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Before I can think anything else, Enzo turns away froes at Raffaele The hands of Death loosen from my heart for an instant, and I recoil in horror from the rampart Raffaele pauses for the briefest of moments--then he clenches his jaw and fires his crossbow The arrow strikes Enzo in the chest He staggers, but doesn’t fall Raffaele puts his arms up to defend himself, but his instant of hesitation has cost hirabs Raffaele by the throat and slaainst the wall Raffaele lets out a choked cry Enzo’s dagger flashes in the air
I don’t think--I just act I reach out through our tether and yank the threads of Enzo’s energy tight Then I pull them toward me
Enzo lets out a snarl of irritation that barely sounds huhts whirl throughare so cold, they seeh my consciousness, pulled so taut that they seem ready to break I think back to the moment when Maeve had summoned him back from the Underworld, how she had tied hiy cut at rip on his crossbow, and fires at close range This arrow hits Enzo in the back He fires again Another arrow Enzo hunches, finally slowed by the attack, but the expression on his face doesn’t change His attention turns back to h our tether
I a defiantly against her The darkness insideEnzo’s power--he shudders once at my touch The steps around us turn black and are stained with illusions of blood, and the sky overhead takes on a scarlet tint
But I cannot control hiers flash toward me
Then, abruptly, he falls to one knee His head bows Behind him, Raffaele lowers his crossbow, and I see one final arrow buried in Enzo’s back, the one that has finally struck true Blood drips on the stones beneath our feet A low, labored gasp coers clatter out of his hands The tether between us trembles violently, and for an instant, I can feel the pain of his wounds as surely as if they were my own I sink to the floor before hi
It doesn’t o
Enzo looks up at me Suddenly, the blackness in his eyes seems to fade, replaced by the falow of life I see a hint of his old self there, fighting through the darkness of the Underworld to gaze at iven o," he whispers It is his voice It is the voice that once coth And as I try to take in his words, the final tendrils of the tether linking us unravel fro ht leaves hier contain the colors of the living world He turns his head weakly in the direction of the ocean The black pools in his eyes finally vanish, and a name drifts from his lips He says it so quietly that I nearly irl, one he had known and loved long ago
Then, he closes his eyes and sinks to the floor His body grows still I knoithout a doubt, that he is gone
Raffaele says nothing He stays against the wall, eyes fixed on Enzo Then, he pulls Enzo’s body to hioes on I walk forward in a daze, coh to hear Raffaele’s quiet crying He doesn’t pay me any attention; in fact, it is as if I were not even here
After a long moment, he pulls away and lifts his jewel-toned eyes to old with tears We stare at each other I can see the confusion in his gaze as clearly as he must see the same in mine
You didn’t have to save me
I am numb I don’t knohat to do The absence ofchasm, a hollowness I first felt when Teren took Enzo’s life in the Estenzian arena How long had he been a part of my world? How had my life been before he stepped into it? All I can think is that I aain, except that I already lost him
I am not ready to die
This realization strikes ainst the ra my senses No, I am not ready to die, and there is only one way I can prevent that fro
As the sun starts to rise, I watch as Raffaele bends over Enzo’s body, the two of usthe prince we both loved
Dearest Mother, I a me It is not to do with our debt, I think, nor his conversation with the king But it leads hiht tantrums
--Letter from Ilena de la Meria to her mother, the Baroness of Ruby
Adelina Ao with Raffaele and the Daggers on their journey--if I can bringalone on a vessel with theiano must be released, alive and unharmed
Violetta stays with rees to stand with us in exchange for a truce I ah with Violetta back and our lives at stake--withht be nice to have an ally for a change