<i>Zephyrine </i>
23
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Attack res up, and my small knife shes with his sword. I take a step back to recuperate. He is powerful. His strength is immense. I heave. I should use more of my skills than power.
I retreat another step, and he wields his de, his teeth bared off his lips.
“You think you can really save your brother alone? You will die here. You can’t even get past a thousand soldiers. You will die in…”
He is still speaking when the sound of yelling rises, and he freezes. He rushes to the window, and there it is. Something has happened on Lycannar’s part.
Wait. Did he…?
“Stone!” A voice yells from down there. The man who had showed Lycannar the way. “Stone…”
The voice falters, then a gag, and momentster, silence. Dead. What happened?
I watch Stone’s expression as he stares down. Something must have happened or has he seen Lycannar?
“You brought someone with you,” he chokes out, turning toward me, smirking. “But you won’t be getting your brother out of that cage. You know why? Because only his own blood can break the spell.”
My heart sinks as he takes a careful step toward me.
“I can guess already the backup you brought is not one of the Ashmeres. You are but you won’t be going underground. Because you will die in here!”
He lunges again, but I counter, rush toward the window, and without thinking, leap down. I roll andnd carefully, straight into Lycannar’s arms.
“It’s some kind of relic,” his voicees urgently as he sets me down to my feet. His hands are bloodied, and the twin des he’d hidden are held firmly. “I can’t open that cage… and he’s slowly dying.”
“Only Ashmere blood can.” The moment I say this, the massive gate of ckwater ms shut, and a thunderous war cry rises. The soldiers.
“Let’s go!” Lycannar snaps, leading the way. I rush to grab Varyn’s sword from my horse as I
run.
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He leads me through a dark hall, past bodies already sprawled in Lycannar’s wake. Just as we near the underground, footsteps echo toward us.
I turn and see soldiers rushing in. Before I can act, Lycannar pulls me behind him.
“Take the straight hall. Focus on your brother’s energy and you’ll find him.” His voice is sharp, hurried. “Go. I’ll hold them off.”
I don’t hesitate. I obey. I hurry into the dark hall, sshing as water deepens under my steps, leading into the underground where Varyn is kept.
But when I arrive, I freeze. Warriors are already there. Someone else has taken another path, and now they surround the cage. His cage.
And then I see him.
After years. After endless torment and waiting.
Bent, chained at ankles and wrists, barely himself. My heart shatters. Tears sting, but my stays steady.
de
The first man swings at me. I counter, slicing his throat clean. He copses at my feet, the thud making Varyn shiver. He is alive.
Alive.
Every man between us dies by my de until atst, I stand before the cage. The relic–lock hums with ancient power.
I sh my palm open, blood dripping toward the lock when he moves.
Varyn.
Slowly, painfully, he turns, his face and eyes locking onto mine.
I shudder. Tears blur my vision. Have I failed him so much? Does he even remember me?
“Zephyr…” His voice. That broken voice.
Tears spill as the lock drinks my blood and bursts open.
Varyn copses into my arms, and I kneel, trembling beneath the weight of what the world has
done to us.
<b>15:45 </b>Mon, <b>Sep </b>15
: <fn44b6> ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? F?nd-Novel</fn44b6>
<b>23 </b>
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“Zephyr?” he whispers again, his bony fingers brushing my face. I press his hand to my cheek, choking back sobs, but they fall anyway.
I am about to answer when Lycannar surges in.
“Zephyrine we need to go.” His voice is urgent, but when he sees me cradling Varyn, he softens.
He hurries forward, pulling off his cloak to wrap around Varyn’s frail body.
“Your horse waits outside. Take this route,” he points sharply to where the soldiers had passed, “and once you reach it you don’t wait for me. You leave. Understood?”
“I will never leave you behind.” My voice is stubborn.
“I’ll be right there with you. Go now.”
I nod firmly. He helps Varyn to his feet so he can lean on me. Then the soldiers rush in.
Lycannar’s twin des rise and another ughter begins.
I don’t wait. I hurry with Varyn, true to his words, my horse waiting.
I hoist Varyn up. He is dying, half–alive, breathing raggedly, but he sits the saddle. I move to mount behind him when a shove ms me against the wall.
Blood sprays from my mouth. My vision blurs. I lift my head to see him.
Stone.
ckwater turns still with dread. Even the ves whimper. Worse than death itself is Stone.
Varyn, an Ashmere, shudders in terror at the sight. The trauma still clings to him, unshaken through years.
“I will make you pay for daring toe into ckwater and underestimating the power I wield here,” Stone vows, reaching for my neck.
I surge to my feet first, answering with a savage kick that staggers him back.
I use the moment, rushing to mount my horse When a whoosh of air cuts past. Lycannar.
Dripping blood, he charges for the gate.
My horse bolts after him. Hope rises. We are almost free.
<b>15:45 </b><b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>15 </b>
And then…
<b>23 </b>
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A rope whips around my throat, jerking me off my horse and crashing me to the ground.
I choke, vision spinning, and through the haze, I see it.
The gate of ckwater surging open, torn by a force I have never witnessed before. Lycannar’s power unleashed. He was about to speed out but then he freezes. Because only my brother rides free on my white horse.
“Go!” I scream, Stone yanking me back by the leash. “Go, Lycan!”
If my life is the price for Varyn’s, then so be it.
But what I never knew, what I never understood until now was how deep Lycannar’s obsession
runs<b>. </b>
He will not leave without me. He cannot.
The sound of his ck horse gallops straight back into ckwater.
My heart clenches.
Oh no.
He was leaving without havoc. But now, now they have awakened the Apex Predator.