Page 150 of Heavenly Bodies
With a shout, she tried to lunge a shadow at him with her free hand. With a tut, Ariete stamped on the wrist beneath his boot, and she screamed as pain flared and she heard abone snap. Then, with a kick, he sent the blade off the edge of the roof. Elara sobbed in horror as she watched it tumble away and vanish from sight.
‘No!’ she screamed.
He pointed his sword to her throat. ‘Now, I may not be able to kill you, but you can still bleed.’
With a last burst of strength, she poured shadows from her hand, the wisps writhing down the building.
The sound of wings pumping the air resonated through blood-red skies. Elara felt the roof reverberate beneath her as Ariete scanned the horizon, his eyes narrowing. Elara scrambled, trying to stand, but Ariete grabbed her by her hair and pulled her tightly to him.
Two gigantic, black feathered wings appeared as her shadow lion rose.
‘Get your hands off my queen,’ a voice said, threat lacing every word.
Elara almost wept as she saw Enzo on its back, one hand curled in the lion’s midnight mane as the other wielded the duskglass blade.
Thank skies for Isra. Isra had warned Elara that the only favourable outcome would be if Enzo waited until the last moment to play his hand. And now was the very last moment.
Ariete dropped Elara, the princess grunting in pain as she hit the ground behind him. She saw a movement, and looked over at Isra as the seer brought her hands down violently on the rooftop in front of her. White frost rushed from the area she hit, spreading a bridge from her rooftop to Elara’s, where it kept going, running in a path to the Star as it crawled up his feet, freezing them in place. Elara threw out her one good hand, lancing shadows around Ariete’s wrists. And with a snarl, Enzo leapt, the duskglass in hand, arcing it towards Ariete’s chest.
Elara heard the wet thunk of a blade embedded in flesh and gasped in disbelief. Enzo had done it. Had pierced Ariete’s heart. It was done, it was over, it was…
A low chuckle echoed through the air, but it was not Enzo’s. She leaned forwards, trying to see past Ariete as red starlight cracked through the ice, freeing the god’s feet. Both he and Enzo turned. Time slowed as Enzo’s mouth opened in shock, a frown on his face as he looked down at the sword plunged into his stomach.
Elara crawled forwards. ‘No.’
Enzo’s shaking hand lunged with the duskglass towards Ariete’s heart, but the Star laughed as he twisted the sword. Enzo cried out, his arm falling, and Ariete laughed again, louder this time as he ripped the sword from Enzo’s flesh. Enzo fell to his knees, his shaking hands trying to staunch the blood.
‘No!’ Elara screamed again, a sound that tore her throat.
She lurched towards Enzo, screaming his name. Ariete stood, his bloody mouth a grin as he looked on. Enzo kept the duskglass clutched in his palm as the Star raised his sword once more.
‘Enzo!’ she screamed again, and with a cry, Elara summoned her shadows from her uninjured hand, and knocked the sword from Ariete’s grasp. He growled, reaching for it when Isra, still on the opposite rooftop, let out a snarl and unleashed the last of her reserves, a rush of ice fully encasing the Star in a moment, before she promptly collapsed.
Elara gathered another lot of shadows and slammed them into the palace roof, obliterating a hole beneath Enzo.
Enzo fell, terror in his eyes, and Elara scrambled to the edge before diving after him.
Air rushed around her. Her wrist pulsed with pain, cradled to her, the other arm outstretched. The shallow pool of thethrone room was looming beneath him. She flung out shadows with a grunt, wrapping them around Enzo just in time. He groaned, resting against the hard shroud of shadows as he was gently laid in the pool. He clutched his stomach, trying to stop the blood that flowed freely. Elara’s feet touched the floor, a twin stream of shadows cushioning her landing. Scented water sprayed as she leapt into the pool and knelt before Enzo. Her shadows unconsciously morphed back into her dragun, wrapping around them both as the pool began to tint red, soaking both their clothes.
‘No, no, no, no,’ Elara whispered, clamping her hand over his, shaking as she tried to staunch the flow beneath the water. ‘Enzo,’ she gasped, ‘Enzo, stay with me.’
She clenched her eyes against her pounding head as the cost of her magick finally caught up with her, along with the exhaustion from the fight.
‘It wasn’t meant to go this way,’ he murmured.
Elara sobbed, clutching Enzo, cupping his face with one hand.
‘El,’ he moaned, his eyes hazy.
‘No,’ she snarled. ‘You can’t leave me. I’ve waited my whole life for you.’
Tears rolled down Enzo’s cheeks as he tried to prop himself up, raising her chin weakly with one hand. ‘There was never a happy ending for us. There never is for star-crossed lovers.’ He smiled sadly. ‘But I don’t regret a second. I would do it all again, welcome every pain to feel myself falling in love with you again. You are the love of my life, El. My love of lifetimes.’
Elara sobbed.
‘Take this part of me,’ he whispered, conjuring a small ball of light in his palm. ‘Just a glimmer of my light.’
‘What? I can’t—’