Page 239 of The Bonds of Indigo

I’m not faster than Kayn. Not even close. He’s in front of me in a blur, his hand closing around Yesenia’s throat.

“NO, DON’T!!” Our girl screams it, but there’s no stopping him. The Hexborn’s head is gone from her shoulders in an instant—not thrown, not discarded. Kayn crushes it between his hands and roars as he launches himself toward Rane.

Bright, golden tendrils lash out, wrapping around his wrists and ankles, halting him a foot from taking the man’s head off.

“K-Kayn, please—” Amarah trembles, and when I try to reach her, I’m yanked down too—tethered just as tightly. “K-Kill me.”

My stomach drops.

“Don’t let them do this. Kill me.” Her shaking hands smear Atlas’s blood across her face as she wipes at her tears. “Please…”

“Release me and let me kill this motherfucker!” Kayn snarls, struggling against the binds. There is no breaking through them. These are just as strong as Vendra’s bindings. Even my shadows can’t contest their grip. I yank, twist—nothing. Not a single inch of give.

Rane steps behind our girl, unhurried.

“Get away from her!” I scream, but he doesn’t even glance at me.

He kneels behind her and wraps his hand around her throat.

Something warm drips down my face—blood, sweat, I don’t know—but I won’t look away from her. I can’t.

“Choose,” Rane says as his fingers tighten around her throat.

Why aren’t you fighting, Amarah?!

“Release her! It’s your death I want! I choose to kill you!” Kayn roars, only to be yanked even closer to the ground. “Amarah!!”

“Solve vinculum nostrum, Vendra. Libera eum… quaeso.” She whispers the chant to her God.

What the fuck is she doing?!

“It’s inevitable.” Rane squeezes her throat, and I hear a soft pop.

“I command you, as part of the blood bind, Kayn. Kill me.”

No.

The moment the air thickens, I know what’s about to happen. I don’t want to think about the consequences. I don’t want to consider why she would rather die. Why she’d put him through that pain for him to live with.

But I can’t allow any of that. She’s mine, and I’ll be damned if I ever allow her to die.

My shadows lash across the space and, in a blink, Rane’s head is gone. They consume it completely—obliterating it until nothing remains but the memory of its existence.

His death comes with mine and Kayn’s freedom from Amarah’s binding.

She slumps forward, and I catch her with the tendrils of shadow before either of us reaches her.

We don’t get a single moment of calm. The ground beneath us quakes violently. It’s like the Earth itself screams—so visceral I’m sure even the Beyond feels it. It lasts only seconds, and when it settles, Kayn and I are both looking down at Amarah.

Her head hangs back, a deep bruise darkening her throat. She doesn’t move, but I can hear her heartbeat. She’s alive, thank the Beyond.

I glance to Kayn, who has his chin tilted upward.

A chill ripples through me as blood drips down his face. Something splashes against my eyelid and I blink it away. Only then do I look where he is.

Swallowing hard, I release a breath.

I’m staring at the reason the city felt so quiet, even at night.