A Court of Dreams and Promise

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Velaria coughed, a faint smile spreading up her face to see Azriel. "My love," she said hoarsely.

Azriel desperately grasped at her too-pale hand. "Vel, what did you do?" he whispered. "What did you do?"

"Gave...you all...your powers...back." She coughed again.

"No, Vel, no," Azriel said.

Rhysand swallowed. "You killed Tamlin without fulfilling the bargain," he said slowly, piecing it together. "We get our powers back as he dies. And as he dies, so...do...you."

Azriel let out a ragged sob, clutching Velaria's hand even tighter. "No, Vel, no," he said, heartbroken. "No. No. No."

"I'm...sorry..." Velaria managed to get out. "But I...love...you."

"Velaria, no," Azriel said. "No. No. You don't get to say goodbye like this. You don't get to say goodbye."

Velaria didn't speak, staring blankly at her mate.

Rhysand turned around frantically and spotted Thesan watching the scene warily. "Get your ass over here," he roared at the trembling High Lord of Dawn. "I don't care how much power you have left. Heal. My sister."

Thesan hurried over, his warm brown eyes swimming with an emotion Rhysand couldn't quite place. He stood over Velaria, Azriel reluctantly moving aside. He held his slender arms over Velaria's too still body, pale dawn light flooding out.

Rhysand watched as Thesan shut his eyes, gritting his teeth, as even more pale light poured out of the High Lord.

Finally, after far too long, Thesan shook his head in exasperation. "It cannot be done."

Azriel snarled. "What do you mean it cannot be done?"

"As long as the bargain still stands, Velaria cannot be healed. As neither of them can fulfill the bargain to fruition, they are following the very terms they set. Velaria cannot marry him, so she will die by his own hand." Thesan dipped his head. "I am so sorry."

Azriel let out a ragged sob, running a hand frantically through Velaria's bloodied hair. "Vel. Vel. Vel. My love."

Velaria blinked, the weariness in her expression deepening with every second that passed.

The despair sunk in as Thesan took a step back, and tears pricked at the corners of Rhysand's eyes. He was going to lose Velaria again.

✿ ↬ - - - ↫ ✿

Helion

Tears were slipping down Marigold's cheeks as he rubbed a hand over her shoulder. "Velaria...Those poor two..." she choked out. "Doomed to be alone, over again."

Helion closed his eyes, a lump forming in his throat. So this was it, then. They were to all watch as their greatest ally died along with their enemy.

"And the poor shadowsinger, to lose his mate again..." Marigold collapsed onto Helion's shoulder in a fit of sobs. "That poor court..."

Helion's hand fell off of her shoulder, getting ready to embrace her as they watched the resulting scene unfold, but instead brushed against his empty sheath. He cursed mentally, recalling the blade that his mother had gifted him, which he had now seemed to have lost in the fight somehow.

Helion's gaze drifted over the scene of scattered High Lords and tipped-over chairs, scanning for his dagger. He ignored the emotions threatening to surface as his gaze caught on Velaria.

A glint of light on the marble dais caught his attention. The shadowsinger's sacred blade.

Helion's eyes darted from Azriel, to Velaria, to Thesan, to Tamlin and back again as the gears in his brain began to turn.