Knightqueen - Page 86

Sten. If she lost him…

No.

There were rocks and debris everywhere. She scrambled through it. She’d lost her parents, and it had almost destroyed her. She couldn’t lose Sten as well.

She climbed up and over the rocks.

She saw Kaden first, the sunlight glinting off the knighthunter’s blond hair. Then he shifted.

And she saw Ashtin. He was standing there, bent over, his hands pressed to his thighs. His head was bleeding.

“Sten?” Her voice was a harsh whisper. She was barely conscious of Nea standing behind her.

Ashtin looked up, his face smeared with soot and blood. “He’s okay. Kaden teleported us out…just in time. But Sten hit his head.” Ashtin gestured.

That’s when she saw Sten lying on the ground, unconscious and still.

Her heart squeezed. She raced over and dropped to her knees beside him. He had soot and dirt on his face. She pressed her hands to his chest. It wasn’t until she felt the reassuring rise and fall of that broad chest, and the steady thud of his heart, that she let out a shaky breath.

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his.

When she looked up, her three knights were looking anywhere but at her.

“Do any of you have anything to say?” she said.

“I do,” Kaden said.

Nea smacked his arm.

He shot his wife a look, then turned back to Carys. “It’s not about you and Sten. He can be obstinate at times, but you’d have to work hard to find a better man.”

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t what I wanted to say. The Blue Death isn’t here, Carys. It looks like one Gek’Dragar escaped.”

Her hands clenched on Sten. She wanted to stay with him until he woke, but she had to save her planet.

She touched his face. “I love you.”

Then she rose. All her emotions, everything she felt for Sten, her planet and her people, whirled inside her. All the suffering she’d seen on Ti-Lore. Everything she’d endured at the hands of the Gek’Dragar, it all fused inside her.

She reached deep, thinking about everything they’d taken from her. Her parents. Her childhood. They’d tried to kill her.

Energy pulsed inside her. It was like she could feel the heart of the planet, the heart of her people. She closed her eyes and let it build.

“Carys?” Ashtin’s tone was cautious.

She opened her eyes and heard her knights gasp. She realized that her skin was glowing gold, and her hair whipped around her face. It was glowing as well.

“Carys, your eyes are shimmering gold,” Nea said.

Energy crackled on Carys’ fingertips. It was a gold-tinged blue.

“Take care of Sten. I’ll stop the Gek’Dragar and the Blue Death.”

Sten groaned as he woke, his head throbbing. “Carys.”

“Take it easy, Sten.” Ashtin’s voice.