Page 108 of Death of a Mortal

Gods, please just let me die a swift death. Dignity was gone. But I would not die afraid.

A last look at Varyn… His eyes flicked downward to my exposed skin, and for a heartbeat, he looked sick. For just one moment, his jaw clenched.

A caw drew my attention to a tree on my right.

Noxie. He was here. We still couldn’t communicate, but he was here.

Tears spilled from my eyes, but seeing my Familiar steeled my resolve enough to raise my chin and roll my shoulders back. Myvision blurred, and just for a moment, I forgot I was naked, chained, sentenced to die any second, because my only friend had come back to me. To be with me in this final moment.

I would die in the presence of the only one left in this realm who cared for me.

And that was enough.

The king declared my execution by beheading was ready to be carried out, but through his words, through the hands that detached me from the chains and forced me to my knees, my gaze never left Noxie. His beady black eyes met my gaze the whole time, his only way of being with me until the very end.

And I was happy for Noxie to be the last thing I would see.

The guard who forced me to my knees shook me where he held my upper arm, but I didn’t dare take my eyes from Noxie.

“We’re ending this, Naci, just a moment longer.” It was Ponytail’s voice whispering hurriedly in my ear.

I knew death was coming, and I was okay.

“When I say duck, hit the ground. Dray is coming. We’re getting you out.”

Wait. What?

A flare of hope hit me in the chest so hard, so violently, it hurt and roused the sleeping beast, shackles or no.

Chapter 26

Not Dead Yet

There was staticin the air that lifted the hair on my forearms and neck. Ponytail and I both looked around frantically—me trying to figure out what was happening, and him apparently looking for someone.

It felt like the heartbeat before chaos ensued.

And then exactly that happened.

“Duck!”

I didn’t even think twice before I hit the ground, bare chest scraping the stone, ass up and exposed to everyone. Ponytail threw an arm over my head protectively before slamming his palm to the ground, sending jagged shards of stone spiking up from the ground around us, spearing several guards through the chest.

There was screaming and shouting coming from everywhere, deafening me, and fae running in every direction. Fights broke out between guards and other fae that emerged from all sides, who had been hiding among the crowd during the trial.

Some pairs were casting magic at each other, balls of fire and iceflying by. Others were attacking each other with swords, many of them already bloody.

My eyes widened, trying to take it all in as the shaking below me gave way to a crater forming deep in the stone. Ponytail grabbed me by the upper arm and pulled me up and away before the gaping ground could swallow us. My hammering heart beat faster when I heard the unmistakable bellow of the king’s rage from the balcony above, his fire demon vey turning the water pummeling toward him to steam with a loud hiss.

“Seize her, kill her! Kill them all!”

The wind picked up around us as a female descended from the sky in her fae form. I didn’t know how in the world a fae could fly without being in a vey form with wings, but I was deeply impressed even amid the insanity unfolding all around.

Malvina was no longer on the balcony above, and Varyn was throwing sharp shards of ice from next to the king toward the fae attacking the royal guards. I allowed myself to hope, for the first time in a very long time, that maybe I could escape Ashthorn.

The look of anger on the king’s and the prince’s faces gave me immense satisfaction as the fighting all around me reached a crescendo.

“Get ready to run!”