Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen
Sky’s POV

“No,” I breathed out weakly as my eyes pried open.

The first thing I saw was the smoke that clawed at the sky, thick and black, swallowing what little moonlight was left. The ground beneath me shook with distant echoes, screams.

My ears rang, my chest hurt, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell if I was alive or halfway gone.

Then I remembered him.

“Kael,” I whispered, my voice breaking on his name.

I pushed myself up, the air reeking of ash and blood. My arms trembled under my weight. Mira was beside me, shouting something to one of her scouts, her clothes torn, her face smeared with soot. When she turned and saw me awake, her expression softened — relief mixed with something else, something heavier.

“Thank the gods,” she breathed, kneeling beside me. “You’re awake.”

“What happened?” I rasped. “Where is he? Where’s Kael?”

Her silence was answer enough.

My heart stuttered. “Mira. Where is he?”

She shook her head slowly. “The general came back, said he stayed behind. He… he told us to fall back. We tried to go back for him, but the vampires—”

“No.” I stood too fast, the world spinning. “No, he wouldn’t—he wouldn’t stay without—”

“He did it to save you,” Mira cut in sharply, grabbing my wrist before I could run. “Sky, look at me! He ordered us to retreat. You were barely conscious after the warp. He made sure you got out first.”

Her words hit harder than any blow. My breath hitched, a thousand thoughts crashing all at once, the sound of his voice shouting commands, the flash of claws, his scent still burned into the smoke.

I remembered the way he’d shielded me, the way his eyes had looked when he’d handed me off to Mira, steady, unyielding. Final.

I stumbled back, shaking my head. “He’s not dead.”

“Sky—”

“He’s not!” I shouted this time, voice cracking. “You don’t know him like I do.”

Mira’s jaw tightened. “I know he was surrounded, he couldn’t possibly—.”

“Then you don’t know Kael,” I whispered, anger burning through the tears threatening to spill. “He’s stronger than that.”

I turned away, scanning the woods beyond the clearing. The trees loomed dark and quiet, shadows crawling with whispers of movement. Somewhere out there, he was still out there. I could feel it.

Around us, the survivors were gathering, soldiers bloodied, armor cracked, eyes hollow. Some were wounded beyond help. Others stared blankly into the flames that sat before them. The air was heavy with defeat, with grief. But I couldn’t let it crush me.

Not when he might still be breathing.

Mira placed a hand on my shoulder. “We need to move. They’ll track us if we stay.”

I turned, meeting her gaze. “And leave him there? Alone?”

“Sky—”

“You can go,” I said, my voice steady now. “Take them to safety. I’ll find him.”

She exhaled sharply, frustration flashing across her face. “You won’t survive out there alone. You saw what they did, they’re not ordinary leeches. They’re coordinated, planned. Someone’s commanding them.”

“Then that means Kael’s still alive,” I snapped. “Because if they wanted him dead, they would’ve made sure of it.”

She froze, her expression faltering.

“Please,” I said softly. “You know he’d do the same for me, for us.”

“Please don’t do this,” Mira looked away, jaw clenched.

“Please let me do this,” I added, gripping her hands.

“Fine, but I’m coming with you,” Mira shot back, her grip on mine tightening like iron.

I nodded once, a quick cut of motion, and meant it. Two of us were better than one.

A shout split the air then, a new sound, raw and urgent. Someone came running through the clearing, mud and soot spattering his boots. He burst into the light, breath ragged, eyes wild with a news that carried the weight of iron.

It was Eron.

For a second my breath stopped altogether. He looked worse than I’d ever seen him—clothes muddied, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, an older, harder thing in his stare. Behind him, two of his riders followed, their hands full of bandages and grim faces.

“Sky!” he called before he could find manners. His voice cracked with a dozen feelings, relief, surprise, more than a little dread.

Eron’s mouth moved, and I watched it form a dozen questions at once.

“You—” he began, then swallowed uselessly. “Gods. Sky. Are you—”

“I’m alive,” I said, keeping my voice even though my heart felt ready to tear out.

“Good, because there’s something I need to report.” he got down and walked towards me, eyes scanning the area. “Where is he—where’s Kael?”

I wanted to say something but the weight of Kael's absence was too hard to ignore. So I looked down, my eyes closing.

Eron’s face crumpled.

He pushed his fingers through his hair, jaw working. He looked around again, then at the wagons where the wounded were being tended. The general—Rendall—had a dozen men around him, clean for once despite the blood, his authority a brittle thing that still worked even if his eyes were wide with worry.

“We have to go back,” Eron said, the words a blade. “We can’t leave him there. Tell the scouts to gather an advance. We track. We find them.”

Rendall’s mouth was a line. He glanced at the wounded, at the burned stalls, at the way men moved like ghosts. “We cannot, not now. The wounded are dying and you want us to move? No. I say we hold what we have. We treat our wounded. Sending them back outside is just suicide.”

Eron’s jaw tightened. “We won’t expect them to return if we don’t go. We need to act, now. The vampires will leave a trail—”

“Your men are injured,” Rendall interrupted, not unkindly. “You don’t see the ones who need steady hands. We lost men—too many. If we move, we risk everything.”

I watched Eron’s face.

“I’ll go,” he said finally, softer. “Not with men from here. I’ll take my own. Six riders and two trackers. I can follow the tracks the vampires make. I can—”

“You’ll be killed,” the general said flatly. “You cannot trace vampires like you can thieves.”

Eron’s hand curled into a fist. “Then I’ll be killed for trying. Better than never knowing.”

Mira stared at him, then at me. “You’re not going alone,” she said, final.

“No.” Eron’s gaze snapped to me. “Sky. You stay—”

“You don’t get to worry about me,” I snapped, louder than I meant. Then softer. “I’m all right.”

“We’ll find him,” he said.

Rendall gave a single short nod. “We’ll stabilize what’s here.” He caught Eron’s eye. “Take only those you trust.”

Eron looked at me then, and I saw the conflict rippling across his features. His pride wanted to march on his own. Something else, something fiercer—wanted to be near me.

“Take me,” I said before he could finish deciding. The words came out of me small and sharp. “I can’t sit still knowing he’s out there.”

“Stay with me,” he said simply.

“I will,” I promised.