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.Each time, he felt a jolt of energy rush through him,searing off a bit of himself.He wouldn t be able to stand this muchlonger.Either he needed to get out of here soon or&.There was no  or. He didn t know the way out, so he would die.Someone was waiting for him, only he didn t know who.Someone was grieving.A little longer, and he would surely rememberhis name.It was on the tip of his tongue.Gradually, Gabriel lost the will to escape, only hoping it wouldn thurt when the light consumed him completely.He kept his eyes firmlyshut.It was all he could do.Maybe if he waited long enough, the lightwould cease?Stop fighting! It s no use, and anyway, the dragon can find youagain, just like you found the girl.Good advice.Relieved, he finally gave up fighting.He opened hiseyes wide and allowed the light to shine into his head and burn hismind to ashes.He didn t know it, but the moment the light hit his brain, his bodywent limp, and the man who had once been Gabriel Jordan was gone.BLOOD poured out of the portal, hit the ground, and created asteaming, ugly puddle.Raindrops hit it; eventually, it would either be272SAM C.LEONHARDwashed away or freeze, depending on how long the thunderstormlasted.Dumbstruck, Aleksei just stared at it.He didn t move.Tearsstreamed down his face.Gently, the dragon opened his claws, giving the fae a bit moreleeway but preventing him from falling face-first onto the ground.He needn t have worried.Kneeling, Aleksei was barely able tocontinue breathing, let alone do anything else.Dragons couldn t cry.But Gabriel s death added to the griefS chn Tg ai already felt.His wings became heavy; his mood, black andbitter for a long time now, darkened even more. He was dragon.Every word boomed across the plateau. Blood of my blood.Kin to meand every other dragon still living.His death his death is&.He couldn t continue.He wished he could cry his heart out, justlike the fae at his feet.Lia, Kyril, and the still-unnamed tree nymph stood motionless,disbelieving, shocked. This means it is over? We are trapped here, forever, with no wayto get home ever again? Of course it was Lia who asked.S chn Tg ai didn t bother to answer her.He stared at the steamingpuddle of blood, at the portal s golden glow, and wished with all hisheart he could have killed the banshee before she had killed Gabe.Buther barrier had been too strong even for him. Let me go over there, Aleksei said hoarsely, and only then didS chn Tg ai notice the barrier was gone.Nothing but wind and rainwhirled around them.A faint rotten smell from where the banshee hadstood only moments ago wafted toward them.The smell hadn t been there until now, the barrier having blockedit just like everything else except for sound and light.S chn Tg ai didn t hold him back when Aleksei walked towardthe portal.When he reached it, when he reached the pool of blood, hejust stood, his arms wrapped around his body, shaking and crying.One small, short beat of his wings brought S chn Tg ai next to thefae.273TAINTED SOUL Why s the portal still open? Aleksei asked, his voice flat andlifeless.Now that was a good question, and one the dragon hadn t yetconsidered.Actually, he hadn t even noticed.The blood hadcommanded all his attention, that and the immense feeling of loss andgrief that flooded him.Now, he looked at the portal.Now, his attentionshifted.With his tongue, he touched the gleam, tasted it, and shuddered indisgust: the portal was damaged.Aleksei took a step. And why is the portal still open if theshedding of dragon blood is supposed to destroy them for good?S chn Tg ai frowned.The portal was damaged.It was so very obvious to him that hecouldn t understand how the fae could stand so close to it withoutcringing.Not only did it taste awful, but the light was too harsh as well,and&.S chn Tg ai embraced the portal as only dragons can do, wrappedhis wings around the gleam, closed his eyes, and listened.A heartbeat, feeble and small.Irregular.Desperate and lost.Still a heartbeat.He wasn t aware of Aleksei touching his side, and he didn t hearthe questions the others were asking, demanding answers, demandingrescue or at least some hope, demanding everything he couldn t giveright now.He was aware only of the portal and the one caught inside,the one he had come to find, the one he had wanted to take with him. Gabe, he said, or he thought he just said it, although in realityhe roared out the name.It echoed off the mountains.It made thethunder sound small and unimportant.Portals had their own minds, and their powers, nearly as old as thedragons, were tricky and unpredictable.S chn Tg ai knew thatGabriel s body was unharmed; he also knew his mind was gone.Although it wasn t his blood on the ground, his soul had bled out ofhim.274SAM C.LEONHARDHe knew all of this.Grief gripped him, destroyed the last glimpseof hope in his heart, and made him forget that he could try to carefullygather the bits and pieces of Gabriel s soul.With a roar, S chn Tg ai destroyed the portal.The light exploded,and Aleksei jumped back as a body dropped to the ground, limp andwhite as snow.Bloody bits of the dead banshee landed next to Gabrielin the pool of blood, a few bones, a bit of skin, this and that and thingsone wouldn t like to look at too closely.Distantly, the dragon heard retching.Like an afterthought, the silver knife dropped to the ground out ofnowhere, as if the portal couldn t cope with its presence and spat it outrather than trying to devour it, just like it had spat out the man.Themetal clinked when it landed half on the stony ground and half in thepuddle of blood.Raindrops hit Gabriel s body, soaking his clothes and his hair andwashing the banshee s blood off his face.When he opened his eyes,they were empty, bereft of emotion, knowledge, understanding.Bereftof the soul that had once lived inside the body. Gabe?Hesitantly, Aleksei reached out to touch the face of the man onthe ground, but Gabriel turned his head away, then propped himself upon his elbows and tried to crawl away. Beloved, you  He is dead [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]