A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows #3)(69)

But then I saw her slip behind him. Thalia lifted her blade and wrapped it around Gavril’s neck before he could dare fight her off.

Gavril’s red power shot out from him again, pounding into me and knocking the breath from my lungs, but Thalia was unwavering.

Her blade pressed into his neck, his blood unearthly thick and so dark it reminded me of tar poured from his skin. His eyes widened, shock filling them as he wrapped his hands around his neck to try to stop the bleeding.

But it was no use.

His blood seeped through his fingers as he fell to his knees, and Thalia circled around him, her blade still in her hand ready to strike.

“Look into my eyes, prince.” Thalia gripped his chin in her firm hold and forced him to look up at her. “Look at her.” She turned his head until his gaze met mine, and more blood oozed from his neck.

His eyes fluttered, and I stared at him as I watched the last bits of his life drain away slowly. Thalia moved closer to him, her mouth near his ear to make sure he heard her, but I could hear her clearly from where I stood.

“You will die knowing it was at our hands your life was taken.” His head began to loll, but she held him firmly in place until the last word passed her lips. “You will never take from another again.”

Thalia released her hold on him, and Gavril fell forward until his face hit the dirt and mixed with his blood that was already pooling there. The feel of his magic, the unnatural aura he carried, dissipated with his last breath, and I sucked in one of my own.

I desperately wanted to stay in that spot and watch until I could no longer see a single movement from his body, but my power pulled me forward, pulled me toward Evren.

I searched for him, finding him on the ground where Gavril’s coward guards left him, and I dropped to my knees at his side. Gavril’s army was fleeing the grounds as fast as they could now that their prince was no longer there to protect them.

I fell to my knees and ran my trembling hands over Evren’s body as tears pooled in my eyes. Gavril had hurt him. He had broken his bones and far more beneath that, but I would not let him die.

No matter the cost, I would not live in a world where he didn’t exist.

Blood seeped from his mouth and oozed from his forehead. His chest was caved in and stole the breath from my chest. My fingers shook at I pressed them over the spot where I knew his heart lay and his blood stained my fingers.

A sob tore through my throat, and I quickly wiped away the tears streaming down my face as I tried to form a single thought that would help me save him.

I lifted my dagger, my father’s dagger that I had carried with me through every kingdom until I found my home, and I sliced it across my wrist quickly. Blood ran down my hand instantly, and I raised my wrist until it fit securely over Evren’s mouth.

“Come on,” I begged him when nothing happened. Tears clouded my vision as my voice shook. “Please, Evren.”

Thalia dropped to her knees beside me, and Sorin groaned as he limped to the other side of Evren. They were both looking him over with assessing eyes, and I hated the way Sorin’s gaze shuttered in defeat.

“No!” I growled even though he hadn’t said anything, and I pressed my hand harder against Evren’s mouth. “Take from me, Evren.” I pressed my other hand to his chest, my tears clouding my vision, and I slowly let my power sink into him.

I could feel it curling and twisting throughout his body, begging him to stay with us, and I didn’t let up even as minutes passed us by.

Thalia slipped her hand on my shoulder, and for a moment, I thought she was pulling me away. But then I felt a tendril of unfamiliar power. It flowed into me, strengthening my own power that was waning, and I forced it into Evren’s lifeless body.

“Please.” Tears dripped down my chin, but I watched as Sorin pressed his own hand over mine. Another shock of unfamiliar power slithered through me and to my mate.

“Fuck.” I heard one of the guards, but I didn’t dare look away from Evren. “Is he?”

I didn’t know who answered him, and I didn’t care. The answer was no. Evren was still with me, still fighting, even though they couldn’t see it. There was no breath in his chest, but I could feel it in the way my mating bond pulled tightly against me begging him to wake.

He was still with me, and he would not die.

I refused to allow it.

I couldn’t survive this life without him. I didn’t want to. I needed him, his people needed him, and terror coursed through me at the thought of him not surviving this.

He had to survive this.

“Where is Jorah?” I looked up at Sorin. I didn’t know what kind of powers he possessed, but I would take anything. I would do anything.

Sorin’s gaze shuddered, and he shook his head solemnly.

A sob broke from Thalia’s lips, and I closed my tear-filled eyes as I focused on everything that flowed through me. I garnered it all, morphed it into something more than we had been individually, and I pushed it into Evren with a prayer.

I would not lose Evren to this war.

If he didn’t survive, this would all have been for nothing. Jorah’s death for nothing.

It was him who was to change our world. Him who would forge kingdoms and heal its people.

It was him who the stars promised to a broken world, and those stars belonged to me.

I could feel my skin burning, the star marks that scarred me coming alive under my command, and I harnessed every bit of that into Evren. I didn’t stop until I felt like I had nothing left to give, not until my body trembled and my soul felt weak.