Page 50 of Stolen Thorn Bride
Dechlan’s warriors stood back to back, the glow of their weapons shining brilliantly into the night as they held off the wraiths with the last of their strength. And for a handful of breathless moments, Kasia was halted by the sight of her bondmate.
She’d known that he was considered his people’s best hope—a warrior without peer—but never before had she understood exactly what that meant.
He was alone in the fray, surrounded by a dozen wraiths, and yet not one of them could touch him. In each hand, a sword glowed with the same fury that lit up his eyes and crackled from his fingertips, and they sliced through the darkness too quickly for human eyes to follow. Like a hurricane of magic and steel, Dechlan was a swift and deadly wind that pierced through the defenses of any wraith that dared come too close, and yet…
Despite it all, he was losing.
He was the most dangerous, beautiful thing Kasia had ever seen, and it was not enough.
He was already bleeding from the wounds she still felt, and there were too many enemies. She could feel his grim purpose, could sense the way he gathered himself for one last stand.
And she could not allow it to happen.
So she leaned down and whispered in Aral’s ear. “Go.”
He went. Straight as an arrow from a bow, he shot forward, through the cloud of wraiths and directly to Dechlan’s side.
Kasia tumbled from the saddle and landed on her knees before struggling to her feet, magic extinguished by her fall.
“Kasia.” Her bondmate’s face was white as bone, both from shock and from the blood that poured from his wounds. “You cannot be here. There is nothing here but death! Go back!”
“No,” she said, reaching out to grip his arm with what strength she had left. “I will not let you sacrifice yourself.”
He whirled to slash through the form of a wraith that vanished as quickly as it had come.
“This is what I was born for,” he said, his voice growing cold and distant. “My life has been about nothing but preparing to meet this moment. Let it be, and go, so that you may live.”
But she was no longer afraid. “Well, I won’t,” she said matter of factly. “You’re my husband and my bondmate, and I won’t let you die alone.”
Her words seemed to thaw his icy reserve, and he suddenly seized her arm and shook it, frantic with what their bond told her was desperation. “Then you will only die with me,” he insisted. “You cannot fight them.”
“Yes,” she said fiercely, holding his glowing gaze without flinching. “I can.”
And she held up her hand.
It was even easier this time, as if her power had only been waiting for her to acknowledge it.
The magic that flared in her palm was brighter than the sun at noonday, and it pierced the darkness around them like a volley of arrows composed of pure light.
And for a single instant, the shadows cleared enough to reveal a blue sky overhead.
Kasia smiled. Perhaps she was not cursed after all. Perhaps her life, too, had been leading up to this moment, where she would finally learn what she was meant for.
Dechlan still held her arm, and was speaking with some urgency, but she no longer heard him. Reaching deep within, she grasped all the power she found there, shaped it, and flung it at the wraiths that surrounded them.
The wraiths wailed and died, but more replaced them. The swarm swirled around them while Kasia staggered and fell to her knees. Her energy was waning—her magic fed on her own life force, or that of the world around her. But the wraiths had already bled the land of its vitality, and there was none left for Kasia to use.
At her side, Dechlan finally collapsed.
“No!” she screamed, and searched frantically for their bond. It held, but it was thin and faint. His life was slipping away, and she could do nothing to stop it.
“Dechlan!”
His eyes fluttered open for a moment. “Kasia.”
“Don’t you dare give up,” she said fiercely. “Dechlan, I know what they did, and I don’t care. Stay with me.”
“You should go,” he said faintly. “Save yourself. Go home, and be with your family.”