Chapter 95

• The air burned in my lungs with every breath. The sky bled crimson light through clouds that pulsed like living things, and the smell of ash and sulfur clung to my skin. The world that had once shimmered with beauty and enchantment now looked like the corpse of a dream.
• Arthur moved beside me, sword drawn, his face streaked with soot and sweat. “The barrier’s collapsing faster than we thought,” he said grimly. “She’s feeding on the realm’s lifeblood. If we don’t stop her soon—”
• “It’ll bleed into mine,” I finished, my hand instinctively clutching the pendant at my throat, the one Connor had given me the night before I left. It glowed faintly now, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. I could feel him. Across worlds, across impossible distances. His fear, his love, his faith.