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No ruk would co this long, in her finding hiainst that water
The farthest lines of panicked soldiers appeared, and Farasha charged past theht
To the keep gate, still open
"Faster, Farasha!" She didn’t hide the raw terror in her voice, the desperation
Once the dam broke, it would take less than a minute for the tidal wave to reach them
She had come for him She had found him
The world went quiet The pain in his body faded into nothing Into so secondary
Lorcan slid his other ar his o"
Each as gravelly, his voice strained nearly to the point of uselessness
Elide didn’t shift her focus froentle quiet flowed around hi of pain and battle "You have to You have to, Elide I’ht make it to the keep in time"
"No" The salt of her tears filled his nose
Lorcan brushed hispain in his body The horse galloped and galloped, as if she ht outrace death itself
"I love you," he whispered in Elide’s ear "I have loved you from the moment you picked up that axe to slay the ilken" Her tears flowed past him in the wind "And I will be with you …" His voice broke, but he made himself say the words, the truth in his heart "I will be with you always"
He was not frightened of ould cohtened at all, if itthe keep
So Lorcan kissed Elide’s cheek again, allowed himself to breathe in her scent one last tian to withdraw his arms from around her waist
Elide slapped a hand onto his forearht into his skin, fierce as any ruk
"No"
There were no tears in her voice Nothing but solid, unwavering steel
"No," she said again The voice of the Lady of Perranth
Lorcan tried to ed
If he tuether They would either outrun this or die together
"Elide--"
But Elide slammed her heels into the horse’s sides
Slammed her heels into the dark flank and screamed, "FLY, FARASHA" She cracked the reins "FLY, FLY, FLY!"
And gods help her, that horse did
As if the god that had crafted her filled the e of speed
Faster than the wind Faster than death
Farasha cleared the first of the fleeing Darghan cavalry Passed desperate horses and riders at an all-out gallop for the gates
Her ing to the point of bursting
Less than a roaning crack cleaved the world, echoing off the lake, thethat brave, unfaltering horse could do, as the da for those on the plain, for the ar a few feet away, Yrene hispering her prayers, too To Silba, the goddess of gentle deaths May it be quick, e as a mountain, broke free And rushed toward the city, the plain, with the wrath of a thousand years of confine totoward them So close--so close, and yet that ould arrive in a matter of seconds
Rowan made himself stand there, to watch the last moments of the Lady of Perranth and his for their deaths, so he ht tell the story to those he encountered So they would not be forgotten
The roaring of the onco, even fro horse after horse after horse
Even up here, would they escape the wave’s reach? Rowan dared to survey the battleet Aelin, to higher ground
But Aelin was not at his side
She was not on the battle as a ruddy-brown ruk dropped fro for the center of the plain
Arcas, Borte’s ruk A golden-haired wo from his talons
Aelin Aelin was--