Last Stand (The Black Mage #4)(96)

Was I truly alive?

I flexed my fingers and toes, and immediately regretted it as a fresh, biting pain swept over the subsiding ache from before. I definitely hurt. And from the bandages wrapped around my chest and hand, I suspected I wasn’t dead.

How?

Something was wrong.

I had cast my last stand. My life had ended there in that cavern made of ice. If I was alive…

Had I made a mistake?

Gods.

Was—No.

No.

I would not accept that.

I’d died for him. If the rebels had found a way to save me, if my casting hadn’t worked, then they would have saved him too. Alex and Ella would’ve made sure he was alive. For me.

So why was I so afraid?

Even though I felt like I was ripping every muscle under my skin, I pushed myself off the cot and went to the window instead.

Just as my suspicion led, I recognized the familiar landscape below. Flickering torches and fortified walls. The remains of a recovering forest just beyond.

I was back in Ferren’s Keep. And from the number of tents and men milling on the ground, the Crown’s Army and rebel force had returned to Jerar.

Was the war over?

Is Darren—

I staggered out of the room with my hand sliding along the rough granite for support. I needed to find him. I needed to find someone.

I didn’t have to travel that far.

There were two guards posted a couple yards down the hall from my door. I thanked the gods I didn’t have to travel that far; already there were shooting pains in my stomach, and my legs were seconds from collapse. I wouldn’t last much longer.

“Please…” My tongue was as dry as sand. “Tell me where I can…” Another shuddering breath. “…find the k-king.”

“The king?” The older guard exchanged looks with his comrade. “You mean our queen?”

“She means the prisoner,” the second said. “She just awoke. No one has told her.”

“Prisoner?” Blood rushed to my head and spots flooded my eyes. Darren was a prisoner? But he’s alive! Who was the queen?

I started to totter and a pair of burly arms caught me before I fell.

“Get her back to the chambers,” the second murmured. “I’ll send word for a healer.”

“My…” My lips were so heavy. “My… brother…”

“That’s right.” The soldier’s voice was fading. “I remember now. We’ll get you Alex too. He’s one of them.”

And then I drifted away. Again.



*

“—Not going to wake her. She needs rest!”

“Quinn won’t be happy.”

“I don’t care whose orders they are, Jace! If that man wants answers, he’ll have to come down here himself. When I say he can!”

There was an angry grumble and then the slamming of wood.

A second later, I opened my eyes. I was in the same room as before, only this time Ella was on my bed, brushing hair from my forehead.

I blinked, and her fingers froze upon my face.

“I’m going to kill that man.” Alex was somewhere near the wall, swearing, “After what he—”

“Alex.” Ella cleared her throat. The two of us were staring, and I couldn’t speak. My heart was a pulsing tangle of emotions, and I wasn’t even sure this was real. “She’s awake.”

“Ry!” Alex spun around and gasped.

I thought I’d never see him again. Something crumbled in my lungs.

I mouthed his name.

My twin dove forward with a cry. His arms locked around my shoulders, too tight, but I couldn’t bring myself to push him away. He was sobbing into my hair.

“I thought I lost you.”

I swallowed back the lump in my throat. I thought I’d lost everyone.

I was never supposed to wake up.

Ella tugged on my brother’s sleeve. “Alex, you are hurting her.”

My brother pulled away, shame-faced. “I’m sorry, I just…”

I took a shaky breath and smiled, shaking my head. But I still couldn’t speak.

Ella adjusted some pillows so that I could sit up. Her fingers trembled as she brushed my wrist. She was fighting hard to keep herself in check.

All three of us were struggling to hold back.

Ella was the first to speak. Her eyes were glassy. “You should be dead, Ry.”

“Quinn gave the orders to collapse the cave…” My brother’s hand sought my own, squeezing. “We tried to stop the others. Even Ian.”

I remembered their screams and the moment I realized what they meant just before the ceiling came crashing down.

“They outnumbered us,” Ella rasped.

“And then we found you—”

“You were buried under glaciers the size of a house.”

“You should have died, Ry.”

Why am I not dead?

“The rebels”—my voice was hoarse as I forced the words aloud—“didn’t s-save me?”

My brother’s face was pale. “We got there too late. I did what I could after, but… you shouldn’t have survived that.”

Ella hesitated. “There was a dagger in your chest, and Darren had another in his. Between your wounds and the cave—”