CHAPTER 173: RUN

Aelin

As their blade came to slash through me, I snapped.

Golden light erupted from me as I muttered the spell. My magic surged to the surface—fierce, desperate, furious. It wrapped around me in a searing, blazing shield. A bubble of molten energy burst outward and slammed into the guards just as they swung.

CLANG.

Their blades hit my barrier and ricocheted with a violent screech.

The guards were thrown backward by the force, crashing into the edge of the circle.

I looked down at my hands—they were glowing, fire and light weaving across my skin like veins of the sun. The runes etched in the ground hissed beneath my magic, reacting, almost repelled.

The shield held firm.

I can’t lose here. I have to get away from here and return to Draegon. Tell him and the other what was happening and make it stop,

I am not helpless or powerless

I can do this

The moment the guards hit the dirt, I rose.

The golden shield that pulsed around me hummed with my heartbeat, strong and furious. The Abyss magic recoiled from it like a predator afraid of fire. The very symbols on the ground hissed in agony where my magic touched them, steam rising in coils as they shriveled.

I didn’t waste another second.

I turned and ran.

My feet pounded across the blood-soaked clearing, scattering dirt and ash as I crossed the last boundary of the ritual circle. The guards behind me shouted, scrambled to recover—but I was already in the trees.

The forest loomed tall and twisted, wild branches stretching like claws toward the grey, stormy sky. The sun barely pierced through the canopy. But I didn’t care. I just ran.

The air was thick, heavy with fog, but the shield held—its golden glow lighting the way.

Behind me, I heard them coming.

The guards—more than two now, it sounded like—raced after me with inhuman speed. Their growls echoed through the trees. I could hear the crackle of their weapons, the dark, cursed spells they hurled in my direction.

But nothing touched me.

Each time one of their cursed blades or shadow spells got close, the shield reverberated, flaring outward with a flash of light that sent the attacks scattering into embers. A bolt of darkness split a tree beside me, but my shield hissed and pushed it away like wind against flame.

Keep going, I told myself. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.

The deeper I ran, the more twisted the forest became. The trees grew impossibly tall, their roots gnarled, their branches laced with black moss. Every shadow felt wrong, like eyes were watching me from the darkness.

I pushed on.

My breath was ragged, lungs aching, legs burning—but I didn’t stop.

Until...

CRACK.

I stumbled as something lashed out from the side—like a whip made of smoke. It didn’t break my shield. But the force of it made the barrier flicker. Just for a moment.

!!!

And that moment was enough.

The shadows moved fast. Too fast.

From the underbrush, dark tendrils slithered like serpents—long, sharp as blades, laced with that same cursed energy of the abyss. They shot upward, and before I could scream or run, they latched

onto my shield.

Hissed.

Sank in.

Pain exploded behind my eyes. The shield flickered violently, every pulse of golden light meeting resistance like never before. The tendrils wrapped tighter, writhing around the barrier, drinking my magic.

"No—no, no—"

I threw up my hands, trying to reinforce it, to pour more power into the shield—but the harder I tried, the more the tendrils drained. It was like trying to patch a dam with thread. My power bled out, fast and uncontrollable.

The shield gave a final pulse—

—and shattered.

!!!

Glass-like cracks appeared across its surface before it burst into a thousand burning shards, vanishing into smoke and sparks.

I gasped.

And then the tendrils struck.

One coiled around my wrist. Another around my ankle. Another around my throat.

NO!!!

What is happening!!??

But still—I reached deep inside myself, clawing for the last ember of power, the faintest flicker of golden flame that still might answer me.

Come on... just one more shield. Just one. I have to do this. I have to get away!!

I pressed a hand to my chest, tried to call the light—but I was too slow.

A cold wind sliced through the trees.

And then it struck.

!?

The dark tendril shot straight into my chest with a sickening crunch.

I didn’t even have time to scream.

The breath locked in my throat, blood spilled from my lips, warm and thick. My magic flickered out in an instant—like a candle snuffed by a storm. The pain was white-hot for a heartbeat, then dulled into something unbearable. Everything inside me seemed to collapse.

I felt a rotten feeling inside of my chest

Instinctively realizing it as the power of the abyss

The shield I had been trying to summon unraveled before it could even form.

My body went slack as the tendrils dropped me like broken prey.

I hit the forest floor, this time barely able to move. My limbs twitched. My vision blurred at the edges, a wash of black and crimson. My ears rang, my heart thundered faintly. I tasted blood in my mouth.

This is it...

But even in the haze, I saw the shadows parting.

I saw the tall silhouette walk through the trees like he owned them. Regal, cruel, every step deliberate.

Reagan.

His polished boots crunched the forest floor as he made his way to the guards who had chased me.

"Well done," he said dryly, voice like ice, "You let her get away long enough to nearly ruin the entire ritual." He clicked his tongue, gaze cutting toward me as I lay in the dirt. "Pathetic. All of you."

One of the guards bowed his head. "She—she used a shield, my prince. One we’ve never seen before."

Reagan knelt down beside me, his voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.

"This is why you need to be dealt with right now," He said, "You can’t be allowed to grow stronger."

I couldn’t speak. I could barely even look at him. My blood soaked the ground, my magic was gone, and my body refused to move.

Reagan stood tall again and turned back to his guards, his tone sharp.

"Drag her back to the altar. We’ll finish this now."

Oh no...

Shit...

The guards moved toward me, and as their hands gripped my arms and legs, lifting me like I was just another corpse...