Jermyn blinked rapidly. His hollow eyes took in the scene with a slow precision. He towered over Aurelie and Shaelyn with the most vacant and unimpressed expression on his face. "What have you gotten me into this time?" he asked, frowning down at her.
"Never mind that," she said, biting her lip. If she were to explain everything, he'd climb back into the soil and flee. "I need you to release me." She thrust herself against the shadow.
The fire burning on the field reflected in his hollow eyes. He was as still as the tree behind him, hypnotized by the horror that she had dragged him into.
"You brought me into a battle with your father? Are you out of your mind?" He snapped out of the trance, fear wrinkling his face. "How do you expect a tree to fight against fire?"
If she heard that phrase once more she would, indeed, lose her mind. Her hands jumped toward her face, but before they could move even an inch, the shadow pressed them back. Aurelie grunted.
"You said I had a favor. You said I could use the seed. I don't recall you giving me any terms," she snapped. "You cannot go back on your word now. You promised me a favor. I saved your life, remember?" she scolded him in hope that her words would create at least a glimmer of guilt. Jermyn had the power to turn the battle. Not against the King per say, but the humans would barely be able to pierce his bark and even if they did, she was not sure that it would harm him much. He almost instantly healed the burns that Marianne had inflicted. What would a little dagger or sword do?
Jermyn hesitated, most certainly calculating his chances, his eyes tracing the field as if counting the soldiers. "Anything else, Dragon, anything, but fighting your father, you are out of your mind," he said.
Aurelie's eyes flared. Jermyn flinched and stepped back. The ground below him ignited, and a wide, fiery circle traced around him.
"I will remember this day, Jermyn. When I am queen and the Dragon King has lost. I will remember. If Daerious dies tonight, the blood of the only creature that can stand you will be on your hands." His eyes widened at the mention of Daerious. "People I know are dying. And if I make it out of this, and you ran," she smirked and sent the wall of fire that surrounded him to rise above his waist. It did not harm him, but they both knew that it could if she wished it to. "I will make sure that the name of every person who died will forever be charred on your bark." Aurelie smiled wider. If he wanted a lost mind, he had just encountered one. "Now free me!" she ordered. The fire crept closer to him. Aurelie did not want to cause him pain. Well, not the physical sort. But, the extent of her magic had to be clear.
His eyes darted to her, wide, alert, and filled with uncertainty. He had expected her to be the same weak, little girl whom he had trapped in his cave. Aurelie straightened her back and challenged his stare. "Release me." She increased the temperature of her fire.
Jermyn nodded, and a branch, sharp as a dagger, extended from his hand. It twisted and drifted to her awkwardly bending with its rise and fall. The branch sailed up against her leg, and as if contracting its muscles, it rose up like an attacking snake. Aurelie gasped, the sharp point of the branch hovering in front of her eye. It jolted. She swept her head out of its way, her heart pounding. The grip on her hands lifted. Jermyn glared down at her, his chin lifted, and his posture stiff, displaying that he too could end her if he pleased.
Aurelie stood, rubbing her wrists, and turned to walk. Gratitude dangled on the tip of her tongue but she suppressed it and walked away toward the battle. Cowards don't deserve gratitude. Shaelyn scrambled from behind the tree and limped behind her. Aurelie increased her pace, knowing that the girl could never keep up. Maybe if she tried, she would faint, and her life would not be wasted.
Jermyn's groan resonated through the field. The battle, for a split second, halted at the sound. Aurelie's chest warmed with relief and gratitude. The ground trembled with each of his steps. His head bent down toward the back of her neck. "If I die by fire, I swear by the wretched gods that you will be the first living being with a tree to haunt you." His breath swept Aurelie's hair over her shoulder.
Aurelie laughed, grimly, but none the less, a feeling other than terror or rage finally throbbed through her. "Thank you, Jermyn," she said, and twirled to wrap him in an everlasting hug, and halted. Shaelyn struggled down the hill, swallowing her pain. "Jermyn," Aurelie said, hesitating to ask him for yet another favor, "that spell you used on me, to make me sleep," she lowered her voice, her head flicking to Shaelyn, "could you . . ."
Jermyn glared, as he always did before he followed through on her request. Fearful as it would be to some, Aurelie ignored it. She had pushed, and pulled, testing his limits, and she had yet to reach it. He turned, rubbing his fingers. Sawdust formed between the tips and shone yellow. It levitated for a second, like sand on a windy day, and with a sudden burst of force blew into Shaelyn's face.
Shaelyn gasped and covered her nose and mouth with her palm. "What have you done?" her voice wavered. Her legs wobbled, and with betrayal bursting from every feature, she fell.
"I know someone that would have found me, and burned me alive, in the same situation," he said, the earth once more shaking from his step.
"She's weak and injured. Who knows, she might be the only one of us to survive. There will be enough death without her seeking the reaper too," she said.
With a dingy shrug, Jermyn followed. She realized, that with her meddling, she had possibly created a fate for Shaelyn that she herself would not have survived. The protection that she had granted her was worse than torture. Aurelie shook the thought away and put it upon herself to do her best to protect Shaelyn's parents. She wished now that it had been them that fled.
In the center of the field, where Kirin had stood earlier, lay a corpse of a man. She stopped a spasm traveling through her. A cloak covered his body, and his back was turned. But his hair, the shape, the color, was Kirin's. As if in a vacuum of sound and sight, the field around her went still. Only she and the body remained. Aurelie hesitated while a black hole consumed her heart.
She was above the body, looking down, but she did not remember waking up. Aurelie's knees dipped into the ground and cracked. Her pulse reverberated in her ears. Before she turned the man around to confirm, her mind swelled with questions. One, in particular, stuck out. Would she want to fight or to live if he was gone? A ferocious, yes, bounced from every side of her mind. But still, it wasn't enough to make her look. While she held onto the limp shoulder Kirin was alive, at least, inside her mind her was. Turning him over would change everything. Nonetheless, it had to be done.
Aurelie's hands gripped the man's shoulders, and she braced herself before letting her eyes lower to his face. She exhaled, her stomach dipped as if she fell. Relief swarmed over her. It wasn't him. Thank God. Thank God. She gasped for air and scanned the field once more, snapping out of the trance of loss.
Daerious fought two men, swinging a sword that was not his. He curved his back out, dodging a slash. Their feel danced, their swords clashed and vibrated with a song of metal distress, and their eyes were locked on each other with the intensity of two lovers. Aurelie set fire to the ground beneath them. Daerious jumped over it. His sword pulled back, as a head of a viper, and flung for the kill.
One of his attackers fell, his hand moving from sword to chest, then back again. The other swung faster, dropping all defense, and pushing Daerious further, and further back. Fire clung to his trousers. He stumbled, gritting his teeth, but continued to attack.
Daerious swung his sword, and kicked out, hitting his burning leg. The guard roared, and his knees as if broken bent down. Aurelie's fire rose, igniting him whole. Daerious swept his eyes past her, grunted, and ran off to toward Vel, who sprinted around the pond, chased by an army of shadow creatures.
Orken jumped over a body, then another, his old legs out running five guards. "Nihil-Motum," he shouted, and murky green smoke rose from his palm. Orken flung it over his shoulder. The men bent down, dodging. "Nihil-Motum," he shouted again.
Aurelie ignited the ground beneath them. They halted, tumbling over each other. Orken released the smoke. It bounced from head to head like a bouncing ball. The men froze as soon as the inhaled the substance and remained marbled in place as the battle roared around them. Their eyes ticked from side to side in terror and faces slowly turned a shade of blue. Aurelie forced her eyes away from them, knowing that a terrible death waited, but also that nothing could be done.
A knock landed in the middle of her back and sent a shock of dull pain down her spine. The world turned upside down. Aurelie crashed, skidding against the grass. A shadow portal circled below her. She rolled out of it and flew to her feet. A scrawny, rat-faced woman stood facing her, a dagger in one hand, and a purple whirlwind around the other. Her eyes twitched to her right. Aurelie jumped out of the way and missed the leaping shadow creature that lurked behind her. She had learned too much from Kirin to not have predicted the move. Fire crawled up Aurelie's arms.
The woman summoned another portal, three times the size of the other. Aurelie pulled her fingers into a fist and leaped at her. She swung when she reached her. A crack sounded from her fingers, the woman's head swung left. Aurelie swung again. A tooth fell, and the woman spat out another, wiping her arm against her lips.
Aurelie shook her hand while the pain seized it in vibrations. Shadows crawled out of the portal. Something grabbed her ankle. A ring of fire formed around the women. She readied her body to jump, and Aurelie strengthened the flames to frame a thick wall around her. The shadows blew up in an explosion of purple light as the woman lost control.
Aurelie turned, licking her lips. She scanned for her next target, but the guards ran rings around her. She chased one with her flame. It followed him up to the edge of the river. His feet tapped twice on the water, and he dropped.
"Find the King," one of the guards shouted as he ran past her. "He wants a word."
A man crouched behind Daerious, his sword at the ready. Aurelie raised her arm, a ball of fire forming within her palm. Before she could release it, a branch crawled up the man's ankle and wrapped around his thigh. The branch tightened, and broke off Jermyn's hand, like a lizard losing its tail. It entangled both of the man's thighs. He fell, struggling to rid himself of the grip.
A group of men scurried through the trees, some with swords, and others with burning stakes. Aurelie blinked, and the fire on the stakes exploded, bouncing from man to man, and setting them alight. They scattered, roars of despair boomed from their beaten faces. Roots grew from the earth, and held them in place, while their skin sizzled. Her body ached to let the fire burn brighter and hotter. She gave in. Their shrieks fueled her all the more.
Among the reek of their flesh, Aurelie stood paralyzed. When had she become such a demon, that she would bask in other's pain? She extinguished the flames, turning her head from their bodies.
"Flee," she said, her eyes squinted shut. They could strike her then and there, and she would not care. In fact, she deserved it. Disgust soared through her, bile climbing up her throat. The promise she made to her father echoed through her mind. How disappointed he would be to see her now.
As the guards scattered, one remained. His face was badly burned, both brows were gone and skin glowing. "Find the King," he said before turning, "he wants a word."
Aurelie narrowed her eyes and watched as he found a new target, a young witch, Aurelie knew as Yelia. The witch formed a lightning-like-ball in her hand and sent it flying right toward him before he could strike her. His body contracted and his hair stood upright. The witch formed started to form a water bubble in her hand and grinned.
"Get back," a woman's shriek broke Aurelie away from the two of them"you filth!" Shaelyn's mother had her back pressed against a tree, while three men circled around her. They had all been terribly outnumbered. For each of them, there were at least ten men. Daerious was the only one the guards steered clear of. Well, except Aurelie herself, for some reason. If they did come close to Daerious, however, Jermyn's bark stabbed through them, before they could lift their swords.
A purple beam shone from Shaelyn's mother's hand and knocked into one of the men. It crashed into him, jolting him into the air. Purple light traveling all around him. The beam bounced off his body and swung Aurelie's way. She dove.
A kick knocked into her side. She doubled up and puffed. Six pairs of boots marched around her, kicking up clouds of dirt. Fire soared below her, the men jumped back but stayed put. A sword pierced through the scorching wall. The tip colored and bent. A hiss sounded from one of the guards and the sword fell.
"It's the dragon," one of the men shouted. "Get the King!" Her allies were nowhere near. Jermyn's roots ran through the earth, hurling grass and earth, chasing a group of guards. Daerious was close behind, shooting arrows which he claimed earlier had finished. The men swung their swords back, fighting the roots.
Aurelie raised her head. Three arrows pointed at her chest. She could burn the strings, and create an explosion of fire. But would she be fast enough?
"You move, I shoot," a man, on her right, said. Her chest sagged. The dare had almost been inviting, but she held herself back. Aurelie's fingers dug into the earth. The connection she had to the King had broken as soon as the battle commenced. How far he was, she did not know.
"Aurelie, get down," Orken yelled.
Her stomach dropped, and she rolled, hurling her arms over her head. The arrows whooshed and pierced the ground. A wind blew past her, carrying a metal clang. The men groaned and thumped down.
Aurelie turned to see what Orken had done. A body folded over atop her. She flung up her arms, but they were pressed back by his weight. His eyes were wide, and his lip curled. A string of blood ran from his mouth. Aurelie moved her face, but not fast enough. The line dripped down and slid between her lips. A thick iron taste filled her mouth. She gagged and struggled against his weight.
The man's side lifted, and he rolled over. Orken stood above her, his eyes focused on her mouth. His nose wrinkled in disgust. At his expression, Aurelie gagged again, spit racing into her mouth. Swinging herself over, she raised a leg and stood. She swallowed the spit, but her mouth filled again before she could manage to clear it.
"You alright?" Orken asked, while his eyes trailed the field.
As if she had much of a choice. She rose, rubbing her stomach. "Yeah." She panted. "Fine." Aurelie searched for Kirin, her eyes skipping over bodies. Blood covered the ground in velvet darkness. Her hands trembled as if vibrating from the clink of every sword.
Aurelie chased the fear away, but it came back stronger each time. No familiar shadow creatures walked on the earth. There were plenty but none of them were his. If Kirin was alive, surely, he'd be fighting. She was inclined to turn over every corpse. Dead or alive, all she wanted was to know.
"No!" Arietta yelled. The men still surrounded her, but she had lost her previous energy in their fight.
Aurelie followed Arietta's gaze on instinct. Her husband lay wheezing with a shadow bear atop his chest. The bear's mouth opened, and he bared his teeth, in a soundless growl.
Aurelie looked for his conjurer. Her heart fluttered at the thought of Kirin being near him. If that was his father's bear. He'd be right on his trail, he was after all the only person whom she thought Kirin would want to fight. The bear, as if an intelligent being, appeared to be acting on his own accord.
Orken ran for the beast, his heels digging dents in the ground. The bear swung, and before Orken could reach it, three red gashes crossed the man's chest. Arietta's screams rang in Aurelie's ears.
Aurelie summoned a fire beneath the witch's feet.
"Arietta!" yelled Orken, and sent a howling blast as her attackers. Arietta dropped to her knees, shut her eyes, and raised her chin, exposing her neck. Aurelie's head throbbed, and a haze filled her eyes. There was no way that she would let the woman die.
The fire grew taller before her, keeping the guards back as much as Aurelie could from such a distance.
She circled in on Arietta ignoring everything else. Shaelyn would not survive both deaths, and the blame would be solely on Aurelie for not letting her fight. A ball of fire formed in her hand, it sprang and spiraled to one of the guards who approached Arietta. He set ablaze and dropped his sword. Orken chanted, but his efforts were in vain. The last man leaped through Aurelie's flames and flung his sword. Arietta gasped, her hands wrapped around the blade of the sword. Her eyes widened, and she toppled over.
"No!" Aurelie screeched.
Orken growled and ran at him. He knocked into him, and they flew, bouncing upon landing. Orken's fist crashed into his face. The man's skin dented around it, his face swinging back and forth between blows. Aurelie's knees weakened, and her arms lost their weight. Guilt swept over her. She should have let Shaelyn fight. She should have let her die beside them. That's what Aurelie would have wanted had that been her aunt and uncle.
A fire glinted in the distance. Aurelie squinted trying to focus on the figures around it. Her blood froze, prickling through her flesh. The fire, in two cones, came from her father's hands. She crept toward them, treading through the blood of fallen men. The thick liquid rising through her toes. Anticipation accompanied her fear. Thoughts of his reaction dented her mind, and in the strangest sense, she wanted to please him. Show him how strong she had become. That she at seventeenâor was it 18? Had March passed?â was more powerful than he could imagine.
Aurelie's head felt heavy suddenly. No. No. No. Not now. The magic was taking its toll. The weakness was something that she could control now, not well, but at least her legs did not fail her.
Aurelie was closer now. Their voices were clear. She could make out the two men near the King. Kirin was trapped by his father's shadow, his head hanging low. There was a sense of strong irony in his situation, maybe ifâNo! When they survived, she would be sure to ask him if he enjoyed being captured half as much as she did.
A sword lay astray from its wielder. Blood soaked the blade. She picked it up and crept around the trees. "For how long?" Kirin's father asked him, a thick vein popping from his forehead.
Kirin lifted his head, his lip curling up. "Not long enough."
Idiot. Don't provoke them. Had he no inclination to live?
Aurelie panted. Her left knee trembled in anticipation. Kirin's father looked away in what looked like an attempt to gather his thoughts, giving her a second to make her move. She leaped at the shadow, lifted the sword, and pierced it. It felt like Aurelie had just cut through the air but the shadow creature exploded into purple dust. The particles coated her and Kirin. All three of them turned to her as if synchronized, their eyes narrowed.
From the corner of her eye, something glinted. An archer hid behind a tree, his arrow pointing at Kirin.
"Kirin, Kirin, move!" Aurelie warned, but even as she screamed this, she moved to cover his vulnerable side. Kirin put an arm around her and turned toward the direction she was staring. The archer's hand released right as Kirin lifted her up to move her away.
The arrow pierced her back. She gaspedâthe world went in and out of focusâand she yelped out of shock. It didn't hurt at first and then, with every breath, the arrow cut through her insides. She tasted blood in her mouth.
Kirin turned her to her side to see if the arrow pierced all the way through. His eyes went from panic to despair, to anger in seconds. He grasped her shoulders and shook. The tremor from his hands beat against her skin.
"What have you done?" he snarled.
A black portal appeared below them. Shadows rose and spread out in a circle. He yanked her toward him, his hands wrapping around her back and head. Her vision blurred. Her wound started to really hurt. She had to breathe carefully to not move the arrow and that started to make her feel dizzy.
"What on earth have you done?" He rocked them both. "Don't worry," he whispered. "You'll live." His hand clasped her face. "Hold on, okay?" The portal swarmed with purple light.
Aurelie broke out of his embrace and climbed onto her knees. She picked one leg up with a groan and stood. "No," she said. "You're not strong enough, not yet."
A sword glinted above one of the shadows surrounding them. It exploded into shadow particles, and one by one so did the others as the Dragon King slashed through the creatures. Aurelie crawled out of the portal with a hand on her side and faced her father.
This is how I die. This is how I die. Oh, gods, how foolish had I been? She did not intend to take the arrow for Kirin. That was not her plan at all. She just wanted him out of the way. Now, the both of them would die.
A glint of humanity traveled through her father's eyes. He looked at her wounds, and his face creased as if somehow he was hurting him too. Aurelie folded over and panted. The King moved to her, his hands extending as if wanting to pick her up, and then retracted again.
An apparition of the Keeper dangled in her vision. He blinked in and out of sight, his image distorted. Am I dead? The King showing humanity, the keeper appearing out of the Dream Realm, none of it made any sense.
"What are you doing?" The Keeper asked, appearing in his natural form behind her. No one else seemed to notice him. A shadow formed behind Kirin, and before she could warn him, he was trapped by another of his father's creatures again.
"I'm dying," she told the Keeper and coughed up more blood. Her legs gave in, and she fell.
The King's eyes narrowed and his brows creased. He turned to the man who shot her, and trod around, his mouth curving with anger, and his eyes blazing with fire. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, raising his hand instead. The man's body ignited. He screeched, and fell down, rolling.
The Keeper moved to stand in front of Aurelie. "You'd better stand and fight, girl," he ordered her, and grabbed her elbow, lifting half her body. "Come on!"
"I can't get up," she told him, her eyes blinking slowly.
Kirin, his father, and the King stared at her with confusion. Aurelie watched her father, waiting for him to come and take her magic but he seemed to be paralyzed. His eyes kept tracing her wound.
"Then I will make you," he said and walked over to her. His hands grabbed onto her waist, and she lifted.
Kirin's father summoned a shadow behind her, and it hovered around waiting for her next move. Aurelie called upon all the fire still burning in the field. Her father's and her own. It churned and obeyed. She pulled it to her and it obeyed as if the ground was the ocean and the fire was the waves. Aurelie's hands weakened. She stumbled, as her muscles released, and her elbows folded. Her face skid against the grass, pieces of ground jumping into her mouth.
Daerious and Orken were led toward themâtheir arms tiedâby a horde of guards. Jermyn walked behind them, threatened by a burning stake. All was lost. It was only them against thirty or forty guards. Aurelie got up onto her knees and pressed her hands hard against the soil.
The Keeper stood behind her and raised her head toward the field once again. The fire rushed past the men. The guards and Kirin's father fought against the flames, patting them down. The fire crawled into her skin. She swayed as two powers battled inside her.
"Fight!" he screamed.
The King was yet to make a move. She looked at him and frowned, ignoring the Keeper's orders. Was he waiting for her to wear herself out? To break herself so that he wouldn't have to?
He walked up to her and bent down on to his knee. "Stop fighting me." His eyes reflected sadness. "Come with me," he said, his voice gentle. "I'll help you."
Aurelie was boiling over. Sweat ran down her back and temples. The back of her head was soaking. She was too weak to look. She snorted, her head wagging. "It's not dragonly to play with your food," she said. Whatever he was up to, she wasn't falling for it.
He flinched. "I do not want your magic. I want you," he said, and for a second Aurelie swore that his lip had quivered.
"Don't trust him, Aurelie," The Keeper said. She looked up at him, wanting to tap his head to find out whether all the content had gone missing. Of course, she didn't trust him. What did he take her for, an imbecile? But she didn't exactly have the upper hand here, did she? Whether she trusted him or not was irrelevant.
Aurelie's lids fell. She welcomed the darkness, allowing herself to bask in it for just a few relieving seconds. She forced them open and blinked rapidly to regain focus. "I would rather die than go with you," she said, her voice coming out as low a whisper.
The King's eyes flared. "Do you think that I can't force you?" He paraded around. "Which one of them do you care to lose first? That tree mongrel? No!" His eyes sparkled. "I bet it's him, isn't it?" He lifted his chin toward Kirin.
The hair on Aurelie's neck rose and her heart beat into her as if it had swelled and squashed all her organs.
"Do you really think thatâthis," she coughed, and spat out blood, "is all I can do?" As the rage had once fueled her fire, it filled her with energy. She pushed herself up onto her elbows.
Her fire flew out of her and dangled around her body as if encircling her with wings. The fire blasted out. The King flew back, and skid across the field on his back.
The trees around them ignited. The guards screeched and slapped the fire that was on their skin. Some took off their armor, and other's rolled on the ground. Aurelie focused on Daerious, Orken, and Jermyn, absorbing the fire that had caught them into herself.
Her nose filled with hot liquid. Aurelie wiped it with the back of her hand and was hardly surprised when a crimson stripe had covered it. She panted through her mouth and glared at the King.
"Yes, good, show him," the Keeper whispered in her ear.
He got back to his feet and looked at his men. They crawled toward him, with their hands raised, begging him to remove the fire and end their pain.
Daerious rushed to Kirin's side and released him from the shadow's grip. They were all untouched. A darkness draped around the corners of her vision. She stood firm, trying to fake her strength. If he truly wanted her by his side, and alive, he would leave. The Keeper told her not to trust him, and she didn't, not enough to leave with him. But, something in his eyes told her that he was sincere. Maybe now that he had everything he realized that he actually had nothing.
"You should not have come here," she said and watched the King as he walked over to his shadow walker.
A portal opened beneath them. Aurelie's hair blew into her face and the skirt of her dress swung. "Remember that I tried," he said. "Till next time, love. Kirin." His head bowed from her to Kirin. A purple whirlwind covered the King and Kirin's father. Once the wind cleared, the two were gone.
Aurelie fell to her knees, her body imploding with pain and weakness.
"Why did you do that?" Kirin dropped to his knees and grasped her shoulder. His eyes blasted with rage and pain.
Aurelie groaned, her eyes bulging. Kirin's hand released her shoulders and clasped her cheeks. "Why?" he shouted.
"You're welcome," she mouthed. Darkness swarmed over her, she closed her eyes, and leaned against his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. Aurelie could lose all song and sound, as long as she could hear his heart. He's alive. She needed to thank God when she reached him.
"Is she dead?" Leila's voice sounded. Aurelie did not remember seeing her in the battle at all but those were no longer her worries. She just wanted to rest.
"Not tonight," Kirin snapped. "Where have you been?" he asked her.
"Everywhere," she answered, and sat down beside Aurelie with a thud.
Kirin fussed over her while the others observed them in silence. They knew that they could do nothing to help her any longer. It was cruel how they waited for her to disappear.
When the darkness finally came to take her, she expected to see The Keeper, but even he was lost to her now too. The only feeling that had not left her was the pain. She could hear nothing but her own breathing. The Wind circled around her and caressed her skin. Voices sounded, but it was as if they spoke in a foreign language. She could not make out a single word.
She felt content with death. Her thoughts filled with the delight of letting go and relieving herself from the pain, from the heat.
No! She forced her eyes open and grabbed Kirin's hand. She would not let any fire but her own claim victory on that field. "I don't want to die, not like this, not because of him," she whispered. She didn't know what he could do to help her but fear had taken over her words.
They were surrounded in a purple and black whirlwind. And the voice she'd heard had been screaming for Kirin to stop. The wind blew hair into her mouth and eyes. His face was pale and soaking in sweat. Her fingers dug into his skin. "Kirin, no!"
His lips caressed her cheek. "Brace yourself."
"You'll die!" her hoarse voice attempted to screech.
"Brace yourself."
They fell.