The moment the spear struck, the world seemed to stop.
Kaedan had just shoved an enemy aside when the Triarch spear burst through the smoke — spinning, whistling, unstoppable.
“KAEDAN!” Ariaxa screamed.
Too late.
The spear slammed into his side, punching straight through muscle and armor. The force lifted him off his feet and hurled him into the churned mud. The battlefield erupted with horrific cheers and gasps.
Ariaxa froze.
Her breath vanished from her chest.
All she saw was Kaedan, crimson blooming around the spear embedded in his ribs, his body curled around the wound.
“No,” she whispered. “No—no—NO—”
The Sun-mirrors shattered behind her from the surge of her fear.
***
A roar swept through the Triarch armies.
“THE EMPEROR IS DOWN!”
“FINISH HIM!”
“CLAIM HIS HEAD!”
Shadow mages surged forward. Beast battalions charged. Vaelen’s assassins sprinted straight for Kaedan, weapons drawn.
Ariaxa staggered backward, knees buckling. Her vision spun as Kaedan lay sprawled in the mud, unmoving.
“Ariaxa—MOVE!” Riven shouted from below.
He burst up the tower stairs and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her backward as shadow fire streaked overhead. Ariaxa clawed at him.
“LET ME GO—LET ME GO—!”
“Kaedan needs time to get up—” Riven growled, holding her tight.
“But he’s dying,” Ariaxa sobbed.
Riven’s jaw clenched.
“He might be. And if you die too, then Vharon is lost.”
A monstrous war-beast crashed into the wall below, sending stone flying. Mages hurled bolts of shadow and fire in every direction. The air smelled of burning flesh, blood, and raw magic.
And Kaedan…
Kaedan still wasn’t moving.
Ariaxa’s heart cracked open. “He can’t die—”
“You think I don’t know that?” Riven snarled. “I owe him my life!”
But the soldiers were closing in — dozens, armed, merciless, ready to take Kaedan’s head and deliver it to the Triarchs.
Ariaxa watched in horror as they raised their weapons—
“NO!”
Kaedan moved.
Slowly.
Agonizingly.
He planted one shaking hand in the dirt.
Blood poured from his side in rivers, but he pushed himself upright with a roar that echoed across the battlefield like a breaking storm.
The ground trembled beneath him.
A shockwave rippled outward, knocking several approaching soldiers off their feet.
Kaedan’s eyes glowed black-red, fangs bared, muscles trembling violently. He gripped the spear embedded in his body—
And ripped it out.
A spray of blood burst across the mud.
Ariaxa screamed, “KAEDAN!”
But he didn’t hear her.
He staggered to his feet, swaying, holding the shattered spear haft in one hand. His entire body shook with pain and fury.
He roared again — a sound that shook the air.
It wasn’t strength.
It was pure will.
The Triarch soldiers hesitated, fear flickering in their eyes.
But Kaedan was bleeding too fast.
He was slowing.
He was…
Falling.
Ariaxa tore free from Riven with a sudden burst of strength neither of them expected.
“ARIA-XA!” Riven shouted.
She ran.
Down the tower steps.
Across the courtyard.
Through a rain of arrows.
Through smoke and screams.
Through flames and rubble.
Arrows sliced past her cheeks.
Fireballs exploded at her feet.
Shadow magic brushed her cloak with fingers like icy smoke.
But she didn’t stop.
Not once.
Not when soldiers tried to grab her.
Not when a beast lunged at her.
Not when the ground cracked beneath her.
Nothing mattered except getting to Kaedan before he fell for good.
***
Kaedan’s legs buckled.
His sword fell from his hand.
He braced himself—but his body gave out.
Ariaxa dove forward, catching him just as his knees hit the dirt. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him against her chest.
“Kaedan—Kaedan, look at me—!”
His head fell against her shoulder, breath ragged, blood warm against her fingers.
His voice was barely a whisper.
“…Ariaxa…”
Her tears spilled instantly. “Stay with me. You stay with me.”
He tried to smile.
It barely formed.
“If I die…” he whispered, breath hitching, “rule Vharon.”
Ariaxa froze.
Horror, shock, grief collided in her chest.
Before she could speak—
His eyes rolled back.
And his weight collapsed fully into her arms.