The Deathsinger: Book 2

Ch. 32: Nothing Left

"Let me go!"

Dante dragged me away from the door. He breathed heavily through gritted teeth, and the scent of burning skin permeated the room. Still, he did not release me until he pushed me safely behind the counter and moved to block the exit.

"You cannot go out there."

"I have to," I wept, vision blurring as tears filled my eyes.

My heart spasmed and struggled to beat. It became hard to breathe. Yoko. She couldn't be gone. Not like this. Not with such terrible words between us. Not ever.

"As, listen to me," Dante said, gripping my hands in his. Small red dots peppered his skin where my starlight had burned him. "Going out there won't save her."

My knees gave out. Dante eased me to the floor and settled himself in front of me, prepared to do whatever was necessary to hold me together, but I didn't think he had that power. My skin felt too tight, like it was stretching to contain the misery that wanted to explode out of me. Outside, the wraiths wailed and railed against the house. Their hunger for our fresh blood and bones drove them into a frenzy. There was no way to get through them and survive.

"She went after me."

Dante could have lied to me. It would have been so easy to say that Yoko had fallen in a fight with a wraith, but he would not do her the injustice.

"She did. We stopped to make camp, expecting you to show up. Eventually, we backtracked, but there was no sign of you. Then the storm rolled in, and the fog grew too thick to see beyond a few feet. We agreed to keep making our way to Radia because we could follow the road, and we knew that's where you would head."

I nodded. Yoko always thought like a soldier. "I came directly here after I escaped the wraith's trap."

His eyebrows shot up. "A wraith trapped you?"

"It doesn't matter. It's dead now."

"Astreia–"

"Tell me where Yoko went."

Swallowing hard, he continued, "We knew something was wrong as soon as we reached the city. Daylight kept them back while we searched for you, but when the sun started to set, they woke. The mists returned. We made it into the apothecary, and I found the lavina powder. The wraiths swarmed this place all night. Neither of us slept, and in the morning, Yoko told me she had to go back to look for you. That you weren't here."

I wrapped my arms around my stomach and rocked. "How could she be so sure?"

"She said she didn't feel you here, and as soon as the sun rose the next morning, she left. The mists hadn't faded, and I watched her walk into them. That was yesterday morning."

"But...I stayed on the road. She should have found me. We should have run into one another."

"Unless..." He choked back a sob. "She didn't have starlight to protect her from them in the darkness."

"Why didn't you go with her?" I shouted, beating my fist against his shoulder. It was like striking a stone, but I welcomed the pain. Anything was better than the pain of my breaking heart.

"Because I told her I would stay here in case you showed up, and you did."

"No." I scrubbed at my face and stood on shaky legs. The blisters on my feet and ankles cracked and oozed. "She's not dead. I would know it. I have to go find her."

"Wait," he reached for me, but I blasted him with light.

Not enough to hurt him, but enough to blind him long enough for me to dart around him. Sitting still after moving constantly for so long had tightened my muscles. Agony echoed in every step.