Starsinger

No

It happened so quickly, Sapphire didn't have time to breathe his name.

Gone. Only a moment ago he'd been right there. Then he'd been rolling over the landing, wrestling with Malcolm, and it had been funny, almost. Their tangled limbs kicking against the air at comical angles.

Funny how quickly he'd killed them both.

Gone. The word boiled under her skin. Gone. Deep in her chest, something heavy began to unwind, hissing and crackling. Gone. She was like an earthquake, coming apart at the seams, but she couldn't keep it inside anymore, not anymore, he was gone. A tight, keening rage flooded her veins.

I told you not to die.

Sapphire screamed, so sharp and clear she thought her ears would break.

***

The world exploded. Blue lightning split the air. The darkness howled as it sizzled and burned, retreating, retreating, retreating.

Falling, nearly a hundred feet below, Aaron forced his eyes open.

Everything everywhere was visible, cast into sharp relief by the fierce blue. It washed over the striker, breathing shallowly as his lifeblood seeped out through his clenched fingers. Over a mage collapsed with exhaustion, and a man with ice-bright eyes, who screamed and dove for cover. Over a ship in the distance, where an injured captain watched in amazement as the black eyes of her enemies suddenly cleared.

Raelyn looked up from where she crouched, bearing her mother's weight across her shoulders. She forced herself to stare into the light, and then began to laugh.

"Of course," she gasped as hysterical tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Her belly shook with mingled relief and bitterness. "Of course."

There was Sapphire, miles above, suspended in the air as every inch of her skin sent out shockwaves of lightning as blue as her hair, too bright for this earth.

Like a star.

Aaron wanted to call out to her, but the speed of his fall tore the breath from his lungs. Then his body hit the ground.