60. Chapter 59
Pain radiated through his body as the blast crushed him against the wall.
A high-pitched ringing echoed in his eardrums and his vision flashed between white and black before his restraints disintegrated.
He yelped as his ankle twisted beneath his weight, like shards of glass embedding themselves deep into his muscle.
His eyes blinked open, his sight slowly returning as his magic coursed through him. There was the familiar pinprick of cold along his spine. Silas. He was still here somewhere. But she was missing. Her magic, the soft flower petals he’d grown used to over the past year.
It was gone.
She was gone.
He rubbed at his eyes, forcing his surroundings to come back enough to find her. Maeve and Liam were coming back to consciousness beside him. No sign of Abbott or Ivy’s brother. In the center of the room, in front of the open red door, were two bodies.
Every ounce of breath left his body as he noticed the red hair sprawled across the dirty ground.
No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be…
“Ivy!” His voice was hoarse as it tore through his throat. He heaved in a sharp inhale before bolting toward her. He ignored the stabbing pain shooting up his leg as he moved. That wasn’t important. Nothing else mattered other than making sure she was still alive.
“No, no, no.” Hot tears stung his tender cheeks. He fell to his knees before her, and he eased her onto her back.
A sharp cry wracked through him as he stared. Her once vibrant hazel eyes were dull, her rosy cheeks translucent and stained with dried blood, and her lips were frozen.
“You can’t go.” His voice cracked as he pulled her into his arms. Her skin was so cold. “Please come back to me. Come back to me, Ivy.”
But her head lolled back stiffly, and her bloodied hands dropped to the ground.
She couldn’t be dead.
“Ivy, wake up. Wake up, please. Fuck, you’ve got to wake up.”
Not now. Not when he had so much left to say to her. Why couldn’t he tell her before tonight? How could he be such a fucking coward that he let his past cost the person he loved her life?
“You can’t leave me,” he cried through gritted teeth. His tears flowed freely, droplets falling from his face onto hers. He held her to his chest as if his embrace could bring her back to life. “Please, Ivy, I don’t want to be in this world without you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He searched around the room until he found a shadowy corner. His limbs froze as Silas’s magic rushed over him. In the same way Ivy’s would. Except he wasn’t sure if he should find comfort in it anymore.
“Silas, please help,” he begged, but the words were barely a whisper. “Please.”
“Ezra…is she…” Maeve whimpered, shuffling across the room before falling to her knees with a piercing cry. Liam crawled next to her, pulling her into his arms as she sobbed.
If Silas wouldn’t help, it was up to Ezra to bring Ivy back. She couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t live with a part of him dead. Fate brought them together. And if this was Fate’s will, he’d defy it. He’d rather she be alive and hate him forever than leave her like this.
Black and red smoke curled around Ivy’s hand, and he glared at the Nether. The door hung loosely on the hinges, allowing whatever evil lay inside to slither into their world. But the cracks and crevices still coursed with blood.
Her blood.
“No.” He inhaled sharply. “She’s not dead.”
“Ezra, what do you mean?” Maeve said through broken cries.
“I can bring her back.” He laid her back on the ground and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “I can bring you back.”
Even if it meant he wasn’t with her when she woke.
He sat on his knees, lifting his arms to extend his magic toward the door.
He reached into the depths of his power, delving into the deepest and darkest parts of himself until his body shook with the magic coursing through him.
The words of the spell burst from him in a furious scream. Over and over again.
The door shook on its hinges, and the metal snapped as the blood trickled out of the wood, swirling through the air and up his arms. He pushed harder. The longer she was without blood, the less likely she’d make it. And he couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.
His power drained, the tremor in his limbs a warning that he was going too far. He pushed past it anyway. His arms were coated in a thrashing sea of red as he pulled every last drop of blood from the door.
“Ezra, you keep going, you’re gonna die, too!” Maeve sobbed, her hand sliding into Ivy’s.
Lose his magic? His life? It didn’t matter. None of that mattered if she wasn’t alive. He shook his head as he pulled his arms down, his muscles aching from the weight of his magic, and he clasped her arms tightly.
With another chant, he pushed his magic forward.
Cold shadows wrapped around his arms, seeping into his skin and mixing with her blood as it tunneled into her body.
He shouted as the the blood poured from him quickly, at a rate faster than he could control.
His head swam. His vision blurred and turned red. He was fading.
“Almost. There.” Her skin warmed beneath his palms as he drained the last of his magic into saving her. He swayed on his knees. Darkness crept in.
“I love you,” he murmured.
Then his world faded to black.