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When it landed against the mountain, stone fractured Its limp body collapsed
Hounds dispatched, Thronos tensed to run for her; alht in ht
More of the dragons launched the toward the plateau The
Melanthe was about to run through a narrow ravine Fro toward her
"The rocks, Lanthe!"
She spotted the around, she headed back toward the field
Toward him "Hurry!"
The sky rained boulders They pocked the clearing, shaking the ground with each i an arrow-shaped boulder of charred stone If it’d hit her
Her body would’ve been pulverized He strained harder, working his wings to free his legs She would have died
A real death He’d heard of Sorceri ended by illness and by stab wounds, for gods’ sakes
She was alantic trees for cover, ni over its roots
Then she--stopped Her upper body jolted forward before she righted her balance
Their eyes met "Melanthe?"
She peered down, frowned
Sheno She couldn’t be caught in a pit "I’h the quakes had stopped, the onrush of boulders continued He could hear their deafening descent down the side of thefor Melanthe’s tree She gazed up in horror, hunching down
"No, no!" He thrashed, kicking, sweat pouring into his eyes, wings heaving Da its hold
High in the tree, a giant liht the boulder He and Melanthe shared a look of relief
Until they heard the first crack of wood above her The li in a frenzy
He’d never get to her in ti at his skin When the top tree limb snapped, the boulder landed on the next one down It was already bowing
He bit back yells as he cut, hacking through his calfin two fists, he wrenched his hands in different directions The bone wouldn’t break!
She murmured, "Thronos?" Across this distance, he heard her distinctly, felt the timbre of pure fear in her voice She had to know a boulder that big would kill her
"I’ed chunks of flesh fro too !
Craaaack His bone snapped just as a tree liernaut, crushing one liht on the one directly over Lanthe, not twenty feet above her head
A final defense Could he reach her in tith to pull her fro too !" he yelled as he set to his other leg, balancing even as he swung his razor-sharp claws
She didn’t answer Never slowing his grueso up her bare hands, with their tiny pink fingernails No gauntlets Tears began trailing down her cheeks
The last tree li her braids "Tell my sister I love her"--she swiped at her eyes--"and f-for what it’s worth, those months in the meadowI was happy Happiest"
"No, NO!" He was free of the pit! Using wings, hands, and as left of his legs, he sped toward her
Their eyes ave him a pilot’s salute
The wood broke The boulder crashed down
One second Melanthe was standing there The next she’d disappeared, crushed
Dead
He bellowed, "NOOOOOOO!" She couldn’t be gone!
When he reached the boulder, he thought he could scent blood andground bone Because there was nothing left of her
With a strangled yell, he dug his claws into the stone; using his wings for propulsion, he shoved with all the strength he had left
Moved it not one inch She’s dead
Another desperate shove Not a godsdamned inch
She was dead He felt it Knew it
He roared with agony He had five centuries’ worth of hate to give that stone--his new enemy Another shove Another And another And another He rammed his horns into it until blood poured down into his eyes
In the h his rew older
"Would that make me a princess of heaven?" she asked with a chuckle "Would we have old up there?"
"You’ll have old!" He tickled her, chasing her around the hter
Of the first ti
She peeked up from his chest, her eyes wide, as blue as the sky they crossed "Thronos, thisthislet’s never go back down!"
Of theht in the rain, on the very day his father had later raided the abbey
Thronos took her in his arrew heavier, he spread his wings over his head, creating a shelter "I’ve always rooainst hihed, "I love you, Thronos"
His heart felt too big for his chest, and he had to s past the lump in his throat to answer her
He’d squandered the treasure he’d been given
His claws and horns were gone, but he hadn’t budged the stone Blood from his hands and head painted his eneodsdamned inch
Unmovable So too would he be