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I push through it and pry his fingers off, biting where I er is mine It’s slick with his blood and mine, silver and red, darker by the second

Suddenly his other hand is aroundthe air froht to fling s into er arht over the brand he gave s beneath the pressure, and I feel the bone crack with an agonizing slowness

It’s my turn to screa over asp and choke My vision splits and spots, leaving only his eyes above me Too blue, too frozen, inhuman in their blankness They are not the eyes of a fire prince This is not Maven Calore That boy is gone, lost Whoever he was born as will not be buried with hiers as blood vessels burst I can barely think, er still clenched in ht makes it impossible

Tears prick at , no thunder I’ll die a Red girl, one of thousands crushed beneath a Silver crown

Maven’s grip on hter, crushing the ht snap clean The world di like black rot

But Maven leans Slightly, in the s more pressure on h to free my arm

I don’t think I just sildly, blade ready, as his eyes fade

They seem sad and

Satisfied

Before I open ue feels inelse I try to shich only exacerbates the pain in ry, as the ainst the pain, li beneath the blanket of the bedwherever I am

"Give Sara a second," I hear Kilorn say, his voice close at my ear He stinks of sweat and smoke "Don’t move if you can help it"

"Okay," I rasp, and that hurts worse than anything before

He laughs a bit "Don’t speak either Might be a bit difficult for you"

Normally, I’d hit hi rather restrained, I elect to keep ainst the ache Sara shuffles around the bed, her touch lingering as she weaves around to my left side

She puts her blissful hands to one I can’t feel it anya little, and Kilorn puts a steadying hand on ates