MARIA.
The air in the hallway felt like ice, bitter and thick with the heavy stench of copper and ash. My chest was heaving so hard my ribs burned, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the violent, hollow void ripping through my soul.
Adrein was gone.
He had dissolved into golden light right in front of my eyes, leaving behind nothing but empty dust and a pool of fresh blood on the stone floorboards. He had taken more than four arrows for me. He had sacrificed his life so I could draw another breath, and the grief choked me like a physical hand around my throat. Tears blinded my vision, scalding my cheeks as I collapsed against Noah, clutching his bloody tunic in sheer, helpless agony.
And then, that terrible sound shattered the quiet again.
A sharp, metallic twang echoed from the shadows above the archway, followed by the brutal, sickening thud of iron punching straight through heavy chest armor.
