Wyatt felt Nev’s pain and then heard her shriek. Panic swept over him. Quickly, he tried to stand and immediately fell into Addi. “Help me get to her. Please, Addi!” Wyatt begged.
“Wyatt, I can’t do that. I’m so sorry. Maybe… maybe you just need to rest and let her finish this on her own,” Addi suggested, hugging him close.
He ignored Addi and pushed himself to try and help Nev. Pain shot through his mind and stomach, and he reflexively pressed his hands against his temples.
Addi saw his reaction and grabbed his face in her hands. “Wyatt, you have to trust her to finish this. You are killing yourself. Please, just stop! You must stop. Before you push yourself too far,” Addi pleaded.
Wyatt collapsed into Addi and nodded as he felt his eyes swell with tears. “But what if he is too…” he began to counter.
“He won’t be. Nev can do this,” Addi assured Wyatt. Deep down, her concern for Nev and her brother was only growing, but she couldn’t let her brother lose faith.
Sagrine threw the sword at Nev’s feet. “Go ahead. Take it. It will make no difference because you were promised to fate before you were born. You cannot deny it forever. Your sword, your Tink, your death, or your victory—in the end, none of it will matter. Promises are a powerful thing… and your promise cannot be denied,” he sneered.
Nev picked it up and returned to her defensive stance. Her shoulder begging for her to surrender. She cleared her mind of her pain, fear, and doubt. “Show me!” she yelled.
Wyatt felt Nev’s energy focus on the amulet. He gritted his teeth and pushed his thoughts to the force building within the gem. Giving all he could without blacking out, he felt the bond between him and Nev surge.
“Her amulet. It just exploded in light,” Nellis reported, sounding worried and shocked.
Sagrine laughed. “You think your little amulet will stop me again?” he sneered, grinning.
Nellis sighed heavily and replied, “It didn’t help. The prowler is just laughing.”
Wyatt’s breath was ragged, and he chuckled softly as he let his mind rest. “Ow,” he moaned in response to his laughter. He then took a deep breath and said, “That is because he doesn’t know what just happened. It showed her the path. She’s seen how to beat him.”
As the light dimmed, Nev grinned at Sagrine. “No, I don’t think my amulet will stop you,” she replied, waiting for him to launch his attack.
Sagrine snarled and lunged at her with all the pent-up hunger and rage he’d carried for so long. He followed her as she fell backward and onto the ground. Pressing his dagger into her injured shoulder with everything he was. “I will wound you, trap you, possess you. Then after I have had my fill, I will consider killing you,” Sagrine sneered, his body perched over Nev.
Nev shrieked in pain as the chainmail began to buckle and fail under the unrelenting force of the prowler’s attack. She screamed out in pain. Feeling the white-hot agony of the blade entering her flesh.
Sagrine focused on watching the pain in Nev’s eyes. Her end was tantalizingly close now, and he found it irresistible. “Stupid girl! The Oracle… he created and shaped me. But your mother gave me purpose… her blood set me on my hunt for you. To think, you still don’t understand the role you were meant to play. The role you will play,” he sneered.
Nev grimaced as the pain became almost unbearable. She waited for the moment the amulet had seared into her mind. “Shut up!” she yelled.
“Do you want to know what your father’s last words were?” Sagrine mocked. Without waiting for a response, he continued, “He asked if maybe he should have killed you too. To keep you from becoming like your mother.” Sagrine cackled as a new agony seized Nev.
Nev shook her head and then stared back at him. “My father would never say that. You don’t know him. But you were right about one thing. My amulet will not stop you… I will!” she roared. As energy surged through her, Nev drove her dagger deep into the side of Sagrine’s throat. Then she wrenched it across his neck with all her might.
Sagrine gripped Nev tightly as he felt his life slipping from him.
“Die!” Nev yelled, pushing the dagger deeper into him. A final two words pierced Nev’s mind as she watched the last hint of life extinguish in his eyes. My prey, she heard echoing in her thoughts. They were Sagrine’s words. Not hers. She shuddered in response and drove the dagger as deep as it would go into his flesh. He was already dead, but she stabbed him again anyway.
The prowler’s lifeless body collapsed onto Nev. She could feel his sticky, warm blood coat her skin. The waking nightmare that had hunted her was finally over. She felt herself becoming quickly overwhelmed by emotions and fatigue. Trembling and sobbing, she lay there, her demon’s corpse still seeping the last of its life onto her.
Wyatt felt it before Nellis even realized what he had witnessed. “She did it. Addi… I need you to go help her for me, please,” he pleaded, feeling himself grow faint from pain, exhaustion, and relief.
Addi nodded. “Nellis, take him to the bed and get any healing supplies you have,” she ordered. Addi then rushed to find Nev. She located her swiftly, still pinned beneath the prowler’s body. Addi threw Sagrine off of Nev. Picking up the prowler’s dagger, she drove it deep into his head, just to be sure. Pulling out the blade, she wiped it on his sleeve and slid it under her belt. She then carefully and speedily helped Nev into the house and to the back bedroom.
Chapter 42
Addi and Nellis worked to get
