AERIS
Chapter 15
The words struck like a butcher's knife, cutting into Soren's very breath. Aeris' father,her family, would let him bleed, would barter his life for the feud between Duskari and Skaldur. He was a sacrifice, a shield to keep her from Zerek's grasp. A man she thought they loved as one of their own now abandoned to die.
"I see how it is," Zerek mused, lips curling in mock amusement. He saw the snare, the game they played,but he did not care. Perhaps he had always had other ways to make them suffer, other plans to sate his thirst for vengeance. The life of one broken warrior was but a footnote to him.
Aeris moved before thought could catch her. Before Zerek's hand could strike, before Soren could fall once more. Pain vanished from her limbs, her wounds forgotten, as she rushed forward.
Zerek froze, his hand suspended mid-motion. Whether it had been raised to strike or to seize, it faltered the moment he saw her.
"Soren!" She heard herself screaming, felt the rawness of it shred her throat. "Soren!"
And he heard her. Even dazed, even broken, his head turned. His arms lifted. And when she stumbled, he caught her. But Soren was too far gone. When he caught her, the strength in his legs gave out and they both collapsed onto the cold stone. He twisted at the last second, keeping her from hitting the ground. His arms still held her barely, but his body trembled with the effort.
Aeris lifted her head and saw him. Blood streaked down from his temple, his mouth was bruised and bleeding, and his throat was already darkening where Zerek had struck. His chest rose and fell in shallow, pained gasps. But his eyes. Those ocean-blue eyes met hers. A flicker of light returned to them, weak but alive. He couldn't speak. She could see it in the way his mouth moved, the way his throat worked and failed. His body had spent everything trying to heal, and now it had nothing left.
"Give up," she whispered. Her voice cracked. "Soren, give up."
His one good eye widened, slow and stunned.
"Please," she begged, her fingers fisting into the torn fabric of his shirt. Her tears fell freely, dripping onto his chest. "You'll die, Soren. You'll die, please stop."
He didn't answer with words. He couldn't. But he shook his head. Once. Twice. Fiercely. The motion made him wince, but he didn't stop. Then he wrapped his arms tighter around her, trembling but firm. He didn't need to speak. He would rather die than let her go.
Zerek crouched low beside them, his shadow falling over Aeris as he leaned close. His voice slid into her ear like an arrow wrapped in silk. "I'll spare him," he said, soft but sure. "If you agree to be my wife. Willingly."
Aeris didn't lift her head. Her throat was thick with unshed sobs, her heart pounding too loud to think. She hadn't imagined it coming to this. Not like this. She shook her head, not to refuse, but because she didn't know what to do. She couldn't believe the choice she was being given.
Zerek tilted his head, watching her with cold curiosity. "You won't?" he asked. "Even though he's ready to die for you?"
"Shut up!" she snapped, eyes flashing through the blur of tears. But Soren's hands found her shoulders, weak but insistent, and gently turned her.
He was shaking his head.
Don't do it.
The message was loud and clear. Aeris broke. Her head dropped to his chest and she sobbed. Piercing, aching cries torn from a place so deep inside her it hurt to breathe.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't want you to die." Soren's lips moved, soundless, and his arms tightened around her like he could hold her forever. But she couldn't let him. She pulled back, her hands slipping from his blood-slick skin, and slowly stood. Her knees nearly buckled, her body cried out, but she didn't fall. She faced Zerek with her face streaked in tears and pain, her body trembling, but her eyes-her eyes burned.
"Aeris, don't!" Her father's voice cracked like thunder. Her brothers called out, and so did Selene, Nyra, Karlene, Veyla-all of them, shouting, pleading, voices overlapping in desperation. But Aeris turned, meeting Zerek's dark eyes, cold with expectation.
"I accept," she said, voice quiet but steady. "To be your wife."
The words tasted like ash. A betrayal in every syllable. To Soren. To her family. To herself. Everything they'd fought for, all their pain, it dissolved into nothing the moment she spoke.
Soren's eyes widened as if he'd been struck again. He stared at her, stunned... and then collapsed. Aeris gasped. Her knees hit the stone as she reached for him, panic rising like a wave about to crush her, but Zerek's hand closed around her wrist.
"No-" Her cry twisted into a scream as he lifted her easily, tossing her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing at all. "Soren!"
She kicked, writhed, clawed at him."Let me go!" Her voice grew hoarse, raw, then shattered into sobs. She screamed until there was no voice left to scream with, until her tears blurred everything and she could no longer see Soren on the floor. She would keep screaming for the rest of her life.
Behind them, chaos erupted. Her family charged the stage but were stopped by Zerek's men. Only Selene dropped to her knees beside Soren. While others shouted and fought, she focused on him, whispering his name into the cold floor.