Page 25 of The Awakening of Essensia

Panic surged and she tried to break free, kicking the ground and scratching at the arm that held her, but the grip on her throat only tightened. Then what little air she had left was knocked from her as Eli crashed into them, the force sending them all to the ground. Vaelira broke free, gasping and scrambling upright.

Jon stood between two spindly trees, knife in hand, head tilted as he watched her. His eyes were blank, his smile wide. While she heaved down lungsful of air, he barely moved. She tried not to look, but her gaze was drawn to the blood that ringed his throat. A collar.

She should reach for her sword. She should do something. But she couldn’t. He was her brother.

“What do you want?” Eli demanded, raising his sword and stepping between them.

Jon grinned wider, lifting a hand. A single finger pointed at Vaelira.

Her knees nearly buckled.

“Why him?” she whispered, the words barely audible. There was no answer, only that awful smile.

Eli shifted, and Vaelira moved to block him. He hesitated, not taking his eyes from Jon, his sword still raised.

“He’s my brother,” she pleaded, as if those words alone would change what stood before her. As if the declaration would draw pity from the First Three, and they’d send him back to her.

“He is no longer your kin,” Elijah said, his chest heaving.

Jon chuckled, the sound broken. Nothing like the laugh she had grown up with. Had grown to know like the thrum of her own racing heart.

Then he moved.

Too fast.

A blur of limbs and flashing steel.

Eli stepped forward with one clean, brutal stroke. The blade sliced through flesh and bone.

There was a dull thump.

A body crumpled to the ground.

Eli caught her before she lurched forward. He turned her, shielding her with his body, but she’d already seen. Could never unsee.

Jon’s face had gone slack. Eyes open. Lifeless. His neck a stump, black blood slowly oozing into the grass.

She didn’t scream. Didn’t speak. She just stopped.

Stopped breathing.

Stopped thinking.

And then—

Nothing.

6

Blushrose

When Vaelira awoke, she was struck by a strange warmth. She should be cold, of that much she was certain, so why did she feel such extraordinary comfort?

The pillow beneath her cheek was soft, the weight of the blanket cocooning her like a second skin. Light glowed faintly behind her closed eyelids, and for a moment, everything was still. Peaceful.

She sighed, and the movement sent a tug of pain down her arm. Across her ribs.

Vaelira jolted upright and the warmth vanished. Blinking around the room, she found herself in a bed twice the size of her own.