Page 51 of Stolen Thorn Bride

“What about our bond?” she begged through the tears that somehow streamed down her cheeks.

“It was not meant to be, Kasia.” His hand lifted briefly to rest on her cheek, a featherlight touch that somehow pierced all the way to her soul. “I hoped to at least make you happy, but all I have brought you is pain.”

Kasia grasped his hand in hers. “No,” she said desperately. “No, Dechlan, that’s not true. The truth is, I…”

He did not seem to hear her. “My death will not hurt you,” he said, as his eyes fluttered closed again, “so do not be afraid.”

“But…”

He went limp beneath her hands, and Kasia could have screamed for the unfairness of it all. He hadn’t given her a chance to say what she’d come to say.

He couldn’t die before she told him she loved him.

So she whirled to face the wraiths that crept in an ever-tightening circle around them, and bared her teeth.

She would end them. She would end all of them. Then she would take Dechlan home and tell him how she felt.

Fionn appeared at her left side, Nuala at her right. “What do you need?” the elf woman asked, and there was no more sneer on her face. No disdain remained in her voice.

“My magic requires energy,” Kasia said briefly. “And I am exhausted.”

“Take mine,” Fionn said, dropping to one knee at her side.

“And mine.” Nuala did not hesitate.

Hope swelled, but Kasia could not go further without a warning.

“I’ve never done this before,” she cautioned them. “It may kill us all.”

“If we take any of these wraiths with us,” Fionn said grimly, “it will be enough.”

As she had done in the forest, Kasia reached out to feel for the threads of life around her. When she found the bright golden cords of Fionn and Nuala, she gave a gentle tug, taking only what was offered and shaping it to her will. This time, she built not an arrow, not a flame, but a star—a bright orb of energy that scintillated as it grew. And she did not release it right away, but fed it more and more until her own vision went dark and the world began to fade. Only then did she grasp her magic in trembling hands and fling it up—into the dark heart of that unnatural night.

Only then did she let go.

Her power exploded, and the darkness tore like a worn-out shirt. She heard the screams of dying wraiths, the cries of the elves, and the strange, slow beating of her own heart.

She saw the pale, grim stillness of Dechlan’s face and the stark scarlet of his blood as it stained the grass beneath him.

And as consciousness slipped away, she watched curiously as the ground rushed up to meet her.

Perhaps she’d somehow won the day.

And perhaps it would all be for nothing.

But she smiled as she lay beside Dechlan on the ground.

Her magic was not a curse. And Dechlan did care.

For the moment, it was enough.

Chapter 14

When he awakened in his own bed at Northwatch Keep, Dechlan’s first thought was Kasia.

His first recollection was of her face, as she stood beside him in the wraith-spun darkness, holding the bright star of her magic in her hand.

And his first fear was for her fate.