Until the World Falls Down

Chapter 21

21

D read turned my blood to ice as I dragged my gaze from the dagger in Enver’s chest to his face. “Enver…?”

“Nell, run !” a voice cried out.

The blade moved further through Enver and he grunted, staggering forward. I let him fall into me, too stunned to react, feeling the tip of the blade against my sternum as I tried to hold him up. I looked over his shoulder and found Isla standing there, blood on her outstretched hand.

“I-Isla?” I could barely speak, barely register what was happening. “What?—”

“Get out of here!” Isla cried, throwing her arm out. “Run! Now! I’ll take care of him!”

Warmth seeped into my chest, and I looked down to see Enver’s blood staining my dress. Enver wrapped his hands around my biceps, steadying himself. He rose to his full height, fury taking over his expression as he turned to look at Isla, his body straining to stay upright. “How did you get in here?” he demanded.

The sight of the blood covering Enver had me stumbling back, horrified. There was so much of it. His shirt tore where the dagger had stabbed through it, aimed perfectly at where his heart would lie if he still had one.

“Nell helped me,” Isla told Enver, glaring at him.

The muscles in Enver’s back went rigid.

“No,” I whispered, my heart beating frantically in my chest, my body shaking. “I mean, I did, but I didn’t know?—”

“Nell, we don’t have much time,” Isla said, throwing me an impatient look. “He won’t stay weak forever. Get out of here!”

Enver tried to take a step toward Isla but collapsed to his knee, blood splattering on the ground below him. “What have you done?” he rasped.

I didn’t know which one of us he was talking to. My hands shook as I reached for him. “No, Enver, no…”

“What are you waiting for, Nell? Go!” Isla snapped, the impatience in her tone growing.

I fell to my knees beside Enver, my hands hovering over his body, too scared to touch him. I didn’t know how to help. “Isla, what are you doing?” I asked, fear making my voice crack.

“What am I doing? Saving us both!” she responded in disbelief. “Ending this madness. Giving him what he deserves. Don’t protect him.”

I shook my head, looking up at her, my eyes stinging. “No, I didn’t know you were going to do this!”

She scowled at me. “Nell, get the hell out of here. I have waited too long for this moment to let you ruin it. And if you try to stop me, you can share his fate.”

“Isla—”

“I’m not above striking you both down,” she said coldly, the threat in her voice clear. “Either get out of here, or I will kill you, too.”

Enver suddenly reached for the dagger’s handle embedded in his back and ripped it out .

“Enver, don’t,” I choked out, knowing doing that would only exacerbate the bleeding.

More blood seeped out as he pushed himself back to his feet, his body shaking with effort. He stepped forward, putting himself between Isla and me. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he deftly flipped the dagger into a more secure grip in his hand. “Your mistake was not coming here, Isla.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What?”

“I could have allowed it to pass—both your intrusion and your attempt at killing me. I know you harbor a hatred for me warranted by something I have done that I cannot remember. Your desire for revenge drives your actions here. I am aware of that.”

Her mouth tightened, her nostrils flaring.

“Your mistake was daring to threaten her,” Enver continued, his voice lowering, a dangerous undertone lacing it. “It is not my fate you have sealed here, but yours. I will not allow any harm to come to Eleanora, even if that means ending your life to ensure her safety.”

My heart stuttered, and a chill ran through me. I had no doubt that Enver meant it, especially with him in this state. His emotions were already running wild, his control over them slipping further and further.

He would kill Isla.

Isla sneered at him. “Protecting isn’t in your nature. Killing me, though? That makes more sense. You finally showed your true self—the fiend who took her away from me. You might not remember, but I do. Let me show Nell exactly how much of a monster you are. You play the victim now, but she’ll soon learn what you’ve done. And she’ll hate you as much as I do.”

“You know so much about me,” Enver said evenly, “yet you use a steel dagger to try to weaken me?”

A flicker of confusion crossed her features, but she quickly recovered, scowling. “Shut up. I’m going to take everything away from you like you took everything from me.”

“Use iron next time, then,” Enver suggested.

“A dagger to the heart is still a dagger to the heart,” Isla responded, retrieving another dagger from behind her back.

“I do not have a heart,” he said. “Or have you forgotten?”

“You don’t,” Isla said, “but she does.”

The veins in Enver’s arm strained as his grip on the dagger tightened. “I have warned you against threatening her. If you dare to touch her, it is your heart that will be torn out this time.”

“You took someone precious away from me, so I’ll take someone precious away from you. Then you’ll understand my pain.” Her expression darkened. “Although monsters don’t feel, do they?”

She moved quicker than I expected. She flicked out her hand, and the blade flew toward me with deadly accuracy. I tried bringing up my hands to protect myself, my movements feeling too slow and clumsy, closing my eyes as I braced myself for it to strike me. Instead, though, Enver grunted.

My eyes snapped back open to see him rip the second dagger out of his shoulder, more of his blood spilling. “Enver, no?—”

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

My mind was reeling, an intense panic setting in. I couldn’t think clearly. Not with Enver injured in front of me. Because of me.

Isla didn’t waste a moment before lunging toward us. Enver didn’t move, staying in front of me, ready to protect me. His posture remained tense, but his expression stayed unnervingly collected. As if Isla was nothing but an inconvenience to him.

Once Isla was less than a foot away, his shadows shot out from the ground, crashing into her with enough force to send her flying backward. She landed hard, her body skidding across the floor, hands dragging along the floor to stop her momentum. As she came to a stop, she easily leaped back to her feet, glaring at Enver.

“So, you are going to rely on your shadows. And to think I thought you would fight me fairly for a second there.”

“There is nothing fair about me,” Enver answered her.

“Then let me even the playing field.”

She plucked out another dagger, bringing her arm back. This time, I was more prepared. I forced myself to my feet, ready to dodge if it came to it, but instead of launching the blade at me, she launched it up toward the ceiling.

I followed its trajectory, noticing that this dagger looked strange, a faint orange tinging the metal. Almost like it was glowing. I watched as it soared straight into the chandelier chain, and as it hit, severing its chain entirely, I realized what she was doing. I reached out for Enver in a blind panic, my fingers digging into his injured shoulder as I yanked him backward, making him fall to the ground with me just as the chandelier collapsed. Enver rolled over me, protecting me as it crashed into the floor.

Everything went dark, and the deafening sound of shattering glass and twisting metal caused my ears to ring, but otherwise, I was uninjured. “Enver?” I whispered into the darkness, feeling his weight pinning me down but being unable to make out any of his features.

Isla’s voice rang across the room. “You can’t use shadows without light.”

Enver moved quickly, dragging me to my feet with him. “Do not leave my side,” he ordered quietly, his fingers wrapping around mine, pulling me into his chest. “Do not speak.”

I stumbled a bit, disoriented and unsteady. My heart beat so loudly I feared Isla would hear it.

Footsteps approached from our side, glass crunching as Isla moved over the broken chandelier. Enver didn’t move, listening. Something whizzed by my ear, causing my hair to shift, and then Enver’s grip on me tightened, a quick breath escaping his lips. Dread coursed through me as I reached my free hand up, touching his shoulder and finding a new dagger lodged there.

Enver shifted, one of his hands going to my neck, wet with his blood, pressing my face against his chest, the other splaying out on my back. I realized he was trying to cover as much of me as he could with his body. He planned on taking every blade Isla threw at us.

“I know where you are,” Isla said, her voice appearing right beside us.

Enver twisted us around, and this time, I heard the blade sinking into him. A horribly, fleshy thunk . He didn’t react. Instead, he scooped me up, my knees under one arm, his other supporting my back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He took off into the pitch-black, holding me close to him, leaving only silence in his wake.

He wouldn’t try to defend himself if it meant leaving me defenseless.

A sharp sting exploded in my upper arm, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying out in pain. Enver’s breath came out in an exhale against my neck. “I’m okay,” I whispered quickly.

The air whistled.

He jolted, a groan escaping him as he faltered, barely setting me on my feet before his arms fell away from me.

I steadied myself, hearing his footsteps as he moved away from me, short and uneven. “Enver?—”

“Stay silent and run,” he ordered roughly.

“I can’t leave you,” I said, reaching for him.

His breathing sounded heavy as his hand found mine in the dark, holding it tightly before letting go again. “You can. I will not stop you this time. Leave me.”

Fingers tangled in my hair and yanked my head back before I could respond. I fell backward, into Isla, crying out as she threw me to the ground onto the shattered glass. I gasped as Isla’s foot slammed into my chest, a moan of pain escaping me.

“Nell! ”

The way my name seemed to rip from Enver’s throat, frantic and hoarse, was unlike anything I’d ever heard from him before. The visceral panic and fear in it hurt more than the glass that cut into my exposed skin.

I suddenly didn’t care about my safety. Something burned hot in my chest at his fear. Something dark and fierce. An instinct I didn’t recognize. I had to protect him. My hands fumbled on the ground, and I ignored the sharp bite of glass, my fingers finding a piece of twisted, broken metal and gripping it. I swung it blindly in Isla’s direction with as much force as I could muster.

It must have surprised her because her foot disappeared off me. I scrambled to my feet, hearing either Enver or Isla approaching me again. I didn’t decide to wait and find out, barreling further into the inky darkness. “I’m over here!” I shouted, hoping Isla would follow me.

“Nell, no!” Enver called after me, before I heard him crumple to the ground again.

“That one had iron,” Isla taunted.

“Nell,” Enver repeated, the sound of glass scraping against the stone floor reaching my ears.

As if he were trying to crawl after me, dragging himself over the jagged shards.

I ignored Enver’s plea, slamming my feet hard with every step I took so Isla would follow me, and I could lead her as far away from Enver as possible. I didn’t have a plan—I just knew I needed to separate them. Protect him.

“You’re brave.” Isla’s voice appeared behind me again, and suddenly, I was falling to the floor again, my foot tripping over something I couldn’t see. “But you waste your bravery on a monster like him. ”

I caught myself before my face hit the floor. “He’s not a monster!” I snapped, rolling onto my back and swinging the metal out again.

This time, though, Isla was more prepared. She caught it, attempting to wrangle it from my grasp. “You don’t understand, Nell. I tried to warn you. He will kill you.”

“You’re trying to kill me right now!”

“Because you’re interfering!”

“Enver would never hurt me like this?—”

“You’re wrong!” she screamed, and it startled me enough that my grip slipped on the metal. She ripped it out of my hands, and it clattered somewhere far off to our side. “Do you know what happened to his first love? He killed her! He dragged her to this castle and murdered her all because she turned him down! He would have done the same to you. But at least when I kill you, it won’t feel like as much of a betrayal.”

Her words hit me hard. The brutality of her accusation. The confirmation of something I already knew deep down. Enver had loved someone before. Yet Isla said she turned him down? And he’d killed her for it?

That couldn’t be true. It couldn’t. She had to be misunderstanding something.

“Isla, there has to be something else,” I said, attempting to climb to my feet.

Her foot connected with my torso again, forcing the breath out of me. “Stay down.”

My mind raced as pain blossomed in my chest. Isla had come to the labyrinth for revenge. She truly believed what she was saying. Yet, so did all the other participants. They all thought they were doing the right thing, but they weren’t. Isla had to be the same. I needed to get her to understand that before she lost herself to the labyrinth.

Isla’s fingers found my neck, and then the sharp edge of a blade pressed against me. “Wait,” I said, finding her wrists in the dark and clinging to them. “Isla, you can’t do this?—”

“This will be quick,” she promised. “I only regret that he won’t be able to watch you die. But don’t worry. I’ll kill him next, and maybe you can reunite in the afterlife.”

The tip of her dagger dug into my skin, and I struggled to pry it away, failing to do so. “Isla, please listen to me! I’ll help you find out the truth. I promise. I want to help you?—”

“Shut up,” she hissed, the blade sinking deeper, and something wet and hot dripped down my throat.

My blood. I tried to twist away again. She was going to kill me. She was actually going to kill me, and I couldn’t stop her. “Isla, if you do this, you will lose the labyrinth. You’ll lose yourself?—”

“I don’t care,” she said, her voice shaking, the dagger digging further into me. “I don’t care! I have waited a century for my revenge. You will not stop me. I’m doing this for her. It won’t bring her back, but at least I can give her justice and peace.”

“Is that what she’d want?—”

“Don’t pretend you know anything about her, Nell! Don’t you pretend you know anything about him . He killed her and felt no remorse. He never has. He never will. He needs to pay!”

“Isla,” I said, my thoughts a panicked mess. I didn’t know what to say to her. How to stop her. “We can figure something out. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to lose yourself. Let me help you!”

“I don’t want to be helped,” she said, her voice trembling, but the pressure on my neck lessened slightly. “I want to get my revenge and leave this pain behind. This is the only way.”

“It’s not. I can help you. I’ve helped everyone else. People are completing their challenges. You can, too!”

Her voice cut through the dark, fierce again. “I never said I wanted to complete it. I only came here to get my revenge. ”

“You can’t kill him!” I cried as a last resort. “The labyrinth won’t let him die!”

“Then I will make him suffer until the end of time instead,” she promised.

My eyes focused on nothing in the darkness as I tried and failed to search for Enver. I would die, and he would blame himself. He would lose me in the worst way and be trapped here with his regret, guilt, and despair. He would be alone again.

I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let him suffer anymore.

“Help me,” I choked out into the darkness. “Please.”

“He’s not coming,” Isla said, and she pulled the dagger back, holding my neck still. “I’m sorry, Nell, but goodbye.”

The air rustled behind me. I used all the strength I had to shove Isla away from me, using her momentary surprise to twist around. I reached my hand up until I touched a door handle. My fingers curled around it, yanking the door open.

Light flooded over me and Isla.

And then shadows erupted around us.

They wrapped around my shoulders, dragging me backward as they slammed into Isla, forcing her to release me as they crashed her down onto the floor. They curled around me, enveloping me, cradling me. Protecting me. Isla fought against the tendrils that coiled around her, making her let go of her dagger as they dug into her skin. One tendril circled her neck before abruptly constricting, her breath coming out in a strangled gasp.

Another shadow fell over us, this one solid and imposing, and I turned my head up to see Enver towering over us, shadows spilling from his body. Icy rage twisted his features, and the sclerae of his eyes were streaked with black as if his shadows were bleeding into them. Blood drenched his pale skin, and his body shook with fury .

“I warned you what would happen if you touched her,” he said, low and lethal. “Now, there is nothing that can save you from me.”

He stepped over her body, crouching beside her, his hand joining the shadows around her neck. The minute he squeezed, she stopped struggling, only staring up at him, her expression contorted with fear. Gone was the anger, the hatred, leaving only terror as her skin turned blueish, the shadows preventing her from defending herself from him.

He was going to kill her.

“Enver, stop,” I breathed, but he disregarded me, the shadows around him thickening as his grip tightened.

Isla’s body twitched, her eyes falling shut.

“Let me go,” I whispered to the shadows sheltering me. “Please.”

They retreated, and I threw myself at Enver, wrapping my arms around him in an embrace. He stiffened under my touch, and the shadows clinging to his form withdrew to allow me closer.

I buried my face in his neck. “Don’t do this,” I pleaded against his skin. “Don’t kill her. Don’t be the monster you think you are. You aren’t, Enver. Let her go.”

“She hurt you,” he rasped.

“You saved me,” I told him, pressing a kiss against his neck. “Please. Stop.”

He shuddered under my touch, his hand loosening on Isla before he retracted it completely. The shadows lifted from her neck, and she drew in a ragged breath. I fell back from Enver, meeting his gaze as he turned toward me. The shadows in his eyes melted away, revealing their beautiful obsidian. He reached up, his thumb brushing against the wound on my throat. “I cannot bear to see the sight of you hurt. She must pay for what she has done to you.”

“She is,” I said. “Look. ”

Isla had gone still, her expression distant. “Ev, I…” A tear slipped down her cheek, her eyes meeting mine briefly before turning empty, glossing over. I trembled as I watched the labyrinth claim her.

She had failed. And now she’d become like all the others who failed—a servant of the labyrinth.

Enver watched her for a moment before attempting to climb to his feet. He staggered and then fell forward. I tried to stand and catch him in time, but he was too heavy, and we sank back to the ground beside Isla. “Enver,” I started, feeling how hard his body shook as he tried to push himself off of me. “What’s wrong?”

“I will be fine,” he assured me in a tight voice. “I am just weakened momentarily.”

“You’re covered in blood!”

“I will heal,” he said, gritting his teeth and pushing himself to his feet.

I shook my head as he offered his hand to me, too afraid I’d pull him down again. I stood, and Isla rose as well. My heart stuttered in fear, but all she did was look at us obediently.

“Gather the others and clean this mess,” Enver ordered. “And be grateful this is all that will happen to you.”

Isla bowed. “Yes, my lord.”

I watched as Isla crossed the room, her movements robotic and unnatural. My heart ached. “Isla.”

“She is no longer your concern, Nell,” Enver said. “She chose her fate.”

“I know, but she thought she was doing the right thing. She just wanted to protect someone she loves,” I said, the words burning in my throat as Oliver appeared next to her to guide her out of the throne room. “I failed her.”

“She made her own choice.”

I half-expected to fail my labyrinth challenge, but the air was still around us. What did it mean for me now that Isla had failed?

I gasped as the pendant suddenly flamed, looking down to find a new piece of the ruby forming, melding with the rest of the gemstone. It was nearly complete now. How? Hadn’t Isla failed? Was I wrong to have thought I received a piece of the ruby every time I helped someone conquer their challenge? What did it represent, then?

Enver released a long breath once Isla disappeared, and I turned back to him. I let out a muffled cry as he suddenly gathered me into his arms, my face flattening against his chest. “Enough about Isla. Let me hold you for a moment.”

“Wait, your wounds!” I said, attempting to pull away from him.

His hold was unyielding as he buried his face into my hair. “Stay,” he breathed.

“I don’t want to hurt you?—”

“Even if you do, I will not complain. It is worth it to have you this close to me. Safe. Alive.” He kissed the top of my head. “Let me have this moment. I need…”

I nodded, not needing him to finish his thought, and I relaxed into his embrace, my arms looping around his waist. I could feel the stickiness of his blood against my cheek, but I ignored it. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to be held by him. I didn’t want to let go. He didn’t seem to want to either because his arms tightened, pulling me even closer.

“I am sorry,” he whispered.

“For what?”

“Many things. Letting my emotions get the best of me. Attempting to keep you here by force yet again. Speaking to you in a degrading way.”

I curled my fingers into the silk of his shirt. “Enver, there are people who can’t control emotions they’ve had their entire life. I won’t blame you for losing your composure when a century’s worth of them hit you all at once. I also reacted emotionally, anyway.”

His arms loosened around me, but he didn’t let me go. He leaned back to look at me, lips tilting down. “That is not an excuse. Do not forget what I have done to you. Do not forget, I am the one who trapped you here—the one who put you in this danger in the first place. The one who took away your freedom.”

“But you are also the one who brought me to you,” I told him, raising my hand to cup his face. His eyes closed as he nuzzled his cheek into my palm. “And I don’t regret that. I would go through all this again just to have met you.”

“Nell—”

“I was scared, too,” I admitted quietly. “I was scared that you would die.”

“If I died, you would be free,” he murmured, eyes still closed, soaking in my touch.

“That’s not a price I’m willing to pay for my freedom,” I whispered. “I thought I feared being trapped here the most, but I was wrong. The thought of losing you is more terrifying. I can’t lose you. You can trap me here, Enver. You can keep me—as your lover, as your prisoner, as your anything.”

His eyes opened now, half-lidded and full of an emotion I couldn’t place. He turned his head, his lips brushing against the inside of my wrist, right against my pulse point. “Do not make such promises, my little lover. You do not know what temptation lies within them. Especially now, when my need for you is overwhelming.”

“Then have me,” I said, my breath hitching as his head dipped down, his lips finding mine. “Take me. Keep me. I don’t care if you ruin me anymore. Make me yours.”

“No,” he said as he pulled back. “Your emotions are heightened. You are not thinking clearly at the moment, and I will not take advantage of you again. ”

He released me, and I bit my lip as he stepped away. I knew he was right. Adrenaline still pumped through me, keeping me on edge. But I also knew the truth of my words. I would be his. Whether I remained in the labyrinth or left didn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t deny it any longer. I no longer feared the chance of failing the labyrinth. Maybe I hadn’t feared it in a while. I only feared I wouldn’t have the strength to leave when the time came.

“Come,” Enver said, entwining his fingers with mine. “I need to tend to your wounds, and I do not enjoy the feeling of blood coating my skin.”