Page 183 of Of Iron and Moonlight

Three Norrelian guards charged down the corridor, blades drawn, distance vanishing with each stride. Thank Selvara tight quarters made wielding air difficult, Njall thought as he lunged toward them.

The first strike jarred his arm. He turned it aside and cut low in the same motion. The guard dropped, clutching his leg.

The second came hard and direct. Njall slipped inside the blow and answered with a brutal shove of steel that sent the male crashing to the floor.

The third was more skilled than his companions. Their blades locked. The guard twisted and slashed low. Steel bit into Njall’s thigh. Hot pain flared up his leg. He clenched his teeth and drove forward, slamming the guard back with a vicious cross-cut that forced him into the wall.

The tear in his muscle closed. The pain dulled.

“Lorrain unlocked it!” Elara called. “She managed a bit of magic.”

“The newer mixture must persist longer in the blood than I estimated,” Njall heard Kalaetzu mutter, wonder and alarm braided together. “Far longer.”

Njall cast a quick look down the corridor. More guards were already pouring into it.

“Run,” he ordered. “Now.”

Kalaetzu darted ahead with surprising agility, satchel clutched to his side. Gavriel followed close behind, forcing his battered body onward. Elara pulled Lorrain along, her friend’s steps dragging and uneven. Njall took the rear, matching their pace while tracking the corridor entrance behind them, ready to intercept anyone who closed too quickly.

They wove through the narrow lanes of oraivane crates toward the far end, where the great gate had begun to descend, rolling downward with merciless steadiness.

Kalaetzu slipped under the gap first.

Gavriel came next, rolling through into the dark fog beyond and scrambling upright.

Njall reached Elara as the opening shrank. “Give her to me,” he said. “I’ll carry her.”

Elara’s hands shook as she shifted Lorrain’s weight toward him—

Lorrain’s foot caught on the corner of a crate. She pitched forward, and her sudden collapse dragged Elara down with her. They hit the ground together. Elara cried out as she tried to brace Lorrain’s fall, hands slipping on fabric and sweat.

Guards fanned out through the stacks, blades glinting as they cut off lanes one by one. The gate continued its descent, metal grinding downward with mechanical indifference. In that narrowing space between the closing exit and advancing pursuit, the truth became clear to all three of them: Njall would only have time to reach one.

“Take her!” Elara shouted, shoving Lorrain toward him. “Take her and go.”

For a single suspended heartbeat, Njall looked at Elara. Though in truth, he did not need that heartbeat to think. He knew then the decision had been etching itself slowly into his heart for months, settling into place long before this moment demanded it.

His hand closed around Elara’s arm. He hauled her upright, then swung her over his shoulder.

“No!” she cried, fists striking his back. Fury exploded out of her. “Go back! Take her!”

He did not answer. Nor did he slow. There was no time. He ran toward the narrowing gap, then dropped into a roll, shielding her as they slid across the stone.

The gate slammed down behind them with a final shudder that shook the ground.

Njall jumped to his feet and reached for her.

Elara jerked away from his grasp as she stumbled upright, sobs breaking from her so violently they seemed to tear through her chest. “What have you done?” she cried, the question splitting open with anguish that startled him to the core.

She lunged toward the gate.

Njall caught her around the waist before she could throw herself against it, holding her as gently as he could while keeping her anchored to the present—to survival. She fought him like someone dragged under water, striking blind for the surface she could no longer reach.

“Let me go!” she sobbed, clawing at his arms. “Go back!”

Njall looked past her into the warehouse.

Lorrain stood only a few paces from the other side of the gate, framed by the bars, as guards poured in behind her, filling the space. Her lips curved into a gentle smile. “I love you,” she said to Elara. Calm. Unnervingly calm. “Don’t be afraid for me. I had already decided I could not live like this. These final moments with you were the gift.”