Faustus pulled her in to him and she allowed herself to lean on him to breathe, to try and calm. She would be no good to anyone like this. But instead her words creaked out in a fractured tortured voice, “I should know what to do.” She breathed the truth against his frosty woolen coat as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Breathe. She coaxed herself, scrambling to calm herself down.

Then silence.

Malou pushed away and looked up at the sky, at the sudden silence. It was too loud, this absence of sound.

“What?” She blinked, dazzled by the scene in front of them, but the oddity of the storm that had been there and now wasn’t. “Faustus?” Her voice trembled, this wasn’t right.

  

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The fear in his wife’s voice only reflected the tightness that had constricted in Faustus’ chest. It was so quiet. Too quiet. As if the dragon was merely pausing before it inhaled, then exhaled a breath that dealt fatal consequences.

“There’s more to this than just magic,” Faustus muttered. “Something’s gone wrong, Malou. We must get out of here now.” Despite the pain radiating in his side, adrenaline took over and Faustus reached over to haul Malou up from the ground.

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pretties by mj