Defying Destiny (Afterword Academy #3) - Katie May Page 0,35

surface. Here,” I hand her my sword, “use this to wield it.” The sword drops to the ground, Hadley too weak to hold it. She looks up at me with such sad eyes that I almost fucking break. “Don’t you look at me like that, Hadley Jamison,” I growl out. “You can fucking do this. I know you can.”

“We believe in you, baby girl,” Auston adds.

“All of us,” Karston chimes in. “You can do this.”

“Okay,” she says, widening her feet, holding the hilt with both hands. The sword’s blade is resting on the ground, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is her ability to ignite it.

She closes her eyes, determination set on her face. Her features contort as she concentrates, trying so fucking hard to find her fire. Sparks ignite on the sword, and her eyes fly open, a smile pulling at her lips as the first flame dances down the metal.

Soon, the whole thing has ignited, and we all cheer, crowding around her, holding our hands over it for warmth. It feels amazing, not only to have a real source of heat, but to see the look of accomplishment in her eyes.

“You did it, Had!” Preston celebrates, rubbing her back. But then something happens we did not expect. The ice begins to melt. Where the tip of my sword meets the ground, the ice transforms into warm liquid. It’s not long before we’re standing in a heated puddle, and I can see the strain it’s taking on Hadley. Her smile is gone, and a sheen of sweat is on her forehead, which is alarming in and of itself, considering the subzero temperatures we’re in right now.

“She needs to rest.” The stern words tumble from my lips, sounding more like an order than a statement.

“No,” Caius interjects. “She needs to keep this up. We need to get to the next layer of Hell.”

“She needs to rest,” I reiterate, speaking louder this time. “Just look at her! Her whole body is giving out. We can’t expect this of her after she just nearly drowned.”

The smoky form of Caius shakes in agitation. “So then what? We let her stop and get stuck in this frozen layer for the rest of eternity? She needs to keep her fires blazing as long as possible.”

It becomes apparent that our argument is moot because Hadley cries out and drops the blade, falling down beside it. We huddle next to her, basking in the small pool of heated water, savoring the warmth. I begin to feel my fingers again, Hadley’s color coming back. Shifting my weight, I feel something weird with my shoe. I scoot back and look down, finding myself staring at a tiny black hole.

“What the…” I begin as the hole grows larger, the warm water draining through it.

“It’s the next layer!” Caius shouts. “Everybody, prepare yourselves!”

I pull Hadley into my lap and flutter my wings, getting them ready for what’s to come. Not a moment later, we both gasp in shock as the hole opens up and swallows us whole.

Chapter 15

Hadley

I’m tired. So incredibly tired, as if my legs are nothing but weights dragging me down. Phantom tendrils of ice cling to my body, but the cold is no longer agonizingly painful. Fire seeps through my skin from Braxton’s demon power still coursing through my veins.

All of those sensations are at the forefront of my mind as we fall through the dark hole, wind whipping at my multi-colored hair. I can feel Brax’s arms around me like iron vises, and I twist in his embrace, clasping my hands together behind his neck and burrowing my face in his neck.

The temperature gradually changes the deeper we fall. Instead of keen winds slicing at my bare skin and torrents of bitter snow, it becomes warm. Not stifling like you would expect from the bowels of Hell, but a comfortable heat that permeates the air. I no longer need to call on my Demon power to stay warm, though my toes still feel numb.

And fuck, I’m still so incredibly tired. Weary. Depleted. My eyelids droop as we continue to fall, the light fading away until I can’t even see Brax’s face in front of me. The only indication he’s still here is the hard planes of his body crushed against my soft curves.

We land in the next level of Hell in a tangle of limbs and with a flurry of muttered curses.

For a moment, I think I shut my eyes, which would explain the unrelenting darkness