Page 403 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

Somewhere, someone was screaming my name.

But my focus was on the snarling bastard in front of me.

Using the maneuver that had saved Ally and me countless times, I closed the gap. One hand seized the back of Moros’ neck, the other driving my blade deep into his chest. Panting, I held him there, dragging the sword upward toward his sternum.

“For Ansel,” I rasped.

Blood sprayed across my face as he coughed something between a laugh and a curse.

“Fruere inferos, motherfucker.” Enjoy hell.

“Ibi te videre” he snarled. See you there.

Agony exploded through me. He’d shoved a dagger into the side of my neck.

We staggered apart. The blight collapsed. So did my shield.

Marlana misted in between us, her hiss like venom in the air. She loomed above me as I dropped to my knees, clutching at the knife in my throat. My blades slipped from numb fingers when she kicked me.

I hit the ground, bone cracking against pavement. I swung at her—slow, sloppy—but she blocked it, stepped on my hand, and wrenched the blade across my neck.

Blood gushed. I rolled, choking, gasping, my mouth filling with copper. Panic. Blind, suffocating panic. My hands pressed against the wound, but it was too deep. Too fast.

The crunch of boots over asphalt.

Marlana lifted Moros into her arms, pressing a hand to his wound before they vanished into shadow.

I was drowning.

Every breath a torment.

My chest seized. My throat blazed.

I clawed at my neck, slick fingers trying to stem the bleeding. My vision blurred.

And then—flames. Orange and wild.

Alvara’s face appeared above me, twisted in horror. Her scream tore through the morning.

Her hands trembled over my throat, blazing with light.

A wall of fire burst outward from her body, a last desperate defense.

I tried to speak—to tell her I loved her. That I forgave her. That none of this was her fault. That I was sorry for the things I’d said. That I was grateful.

I wanted to thank her.

I wanted⁠—

My hand lifted to hers, feeble, blood-soaked.

And then something fractured. Time bent. And everything happened at once.

Tears welled in Alvara’s eyes.

I remembered a girl dancing on a bar top. A promise I’d made to a friend—one I hadn’t yet kept.

I remembered oceanside rides. Her thighs clamping around me. The way her laughter sounded like music. The motion of her hips beneath my hands.