Page 105 of This Shattered Star

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

My back hit the ground with a dull thud, the impact emptying my lungs.

I was alive. Uninjured.

My back would be purple and blue, but I was alive.

I wheezed for air, eyes scrunching shut so tightly that little flecks of color sparked behind my lids.

Throbbing pain blasted through every inch of me, shattering the remnants of my heart, my soul. My eyelashes stuck to my cheeks, already soaked with unshed tears.

Theia hadn’t been praying for me. She’d been praying for herself. For Brannon.

But they weren’t the right words.The payer wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it prepared the Hearth of Song for a soul’s passage. A token of good luck. Should it go unspoken, a person’s soul risked having a harder time finding it. Or risked being accidentally played into the Underworld rather than the Overworld.

Please, let it not be too late.It was hard to speak around the pain. But I tried anyway. “L-lay thy soul—"

“Getting ahead of ourselves again, are we?”

Strong hands hauled me to my feet. Continued to support my weight despite my buckling knees. Kodhan’s concerned face filled my vision, blurred so thoroughly that I barely recognized him. “You took quite the fall, but we’re staying right here.”

“They’re gone,” I croaked. His features slowly came into focus.

“I know,” was his only answer. He swiped a thumb along the side of my neck, where the cut still hadn’t scabbed over. His concern turned into something murderous.

“They’regone.She pushed me.” Bile filled my mouth, putrid and bitter. “She pushed me, and she said the wrong prayer. I have to say the right p-prayer,” I insisted, fighting for breath.

That same glow ignited behind his irises. And I could almost see the flames there, waiting to be let free.Release it,I almost said.Release it all, and don’t stop until the entire kingdom is devoured.

To my disappointment, he reeled in his magic. The glow dimmed with a sharp exhale through his nostrils. “Don’t worry about the prayer. They’ll make it.” He eased his grip, testing for my potential collapse. “Are you hurt? Can you move on your own?”

Each thump of my heart ached more than the last. My back throbbed, and my neck stung. I wanted to curl into a tiny ball and weep forever.

“No, I’m fine. I can run.”

His expression softened, like he could see right through the lie. “The forest is our best chance. We just need to be careful, there will likely be traps. And the remaining two will be ready to fight.”

“Then we fight back. We will win.” I dared a glance at the ruined remains of the watchtower. “I promise.”

An invisible crater formed deep inside my chest. Stretching until it consumed me entirely. But time still tiptoed ahead. It would not pause for me, no matter what I felt. I had to continue.

Both dragons followed our every movement, their eerie white eyes unblinking. The one who destroyed the watchtower slithered in our direction, claws crunching on the remains. My attention snagged on a shimmering line near the base of its neck.

It was faint, barely perceptible as we backed into the forest, but there was indeed a shimmering band around both of them. Barely the thickness of my pinky finger and only visible when the moon angled just right. An even thinner thread connected to the bands around their throats, trailing into the forest to their left.

“Look at their necks,” I muttered. “Near their shoulders.”

Kodhan’s brows lowered. “What am I looking for?”

“A thin, shimmering necklace.” Realization jarred through me. “No, a collar.” We were so close to the trees. I could’ve reached out and touched one. The dragons slinked closer, allowing that string to shimmer again. “There.”

“I see it.”

“We need to follow that thread.”

“It could be a trap.”

“Or it could be our salvation.” This was Wit, after all. Pieces of its puzzle would not be evidently described.