Chapter 36
Excruciating. Endless. Engulfing.
Pain more severe than any I’d known detonated in my chest, right where the bond rested. A scream shredded my throat, and I pitched to the side, barely catching myself on the table.
“You killed him?” Lyriasthe cried, rushing to Maelsar’s side.
“Fuck, I don’t know!”
All I could do was blink and sway on my feet.
“He’s not moving!”
“Is he breathing?”
I collapsed to the ground, the world spiraling around me.
“I think so, but I can’t tell. There’s so much blood.”
“Damn it all, why couldn’t we have found some potions?” Lyriasthe cried.
“Run and get Mayyal. Fucking someone. Anyone!”
I cracked, fractured like a mirror smashed by a blast of lightning. Vaeron’s agony drowned me, the air in my lungs turning thick and liquid.
He can’t die he can’t die he can’t die.
One tear leaked out, tumbling onto the rug beneath me.
This wasn’t supposed to be the sacrifice for peace.
The thought slammed the last of the breath out of me.
Because I fucking loved Vaeron. I’d allowed my hurt to engulf my feelings for him.
And now, his death was the tempest that shattered me into a million jagged shards.
I’d rise with them in my hands, ready to slaughter all my enemies—Angel or Demon.
Please, Radiant Mother, don’t let him die too. I can’t lose him. I’m sorry I fought Your blessing for so long. I was wrong!
Nothing happened. No divine message. Not even a whisper of a touch from our Goddess.
“You fucking stay with me, Vaeron,” Maelsar growled. “Sylaira, you too!”
All I could manage was a croak.
Please, I’ll do anything. Show me the way. Show me what you want me to do. I’m sorry, please!
My desperate prayers spilled out of me like I was the thundercloud delivering a downpour.
Glass shattered, raining over me and slicing my skin.
“What the fuck?” Maelsar swore, whirling.
A deep voice boomed through the chaos. “What happened?”
“I cut too deep and must have punctured something,” Maelsar said in a rush. “We don’t have any potions.”
“Give me some space,” an unfamiliar feminine voice said.
“Who are you?” Maelsar demanded.
“Isra. Now get the fuck out of the way before he dies.”
Incandescence undulated in the air over the table, and the boots of one of the Hatha islanders appeared in my vision. Then, the light punched into Vaeron’s chest.
I bolted upright off the ground like she’d hit me instead.
“I’m holding the liquid around his heart,” she gritted out, “but it won’t save him. He needs a real healer.”
“Leave that to me,” the male—Oshenai—said. The agony ebbed, clearing my vision. The female was familiar in a way that tugged on both memory and some future.
Where have I seen her before?
White wings snapped wide, and Oshenai vaulted into the night.
Maelsar rounded the table, crouching at my side. “Are you hurt too?”
“No.” But my entire body buzzed with phantom pain. It didn’t belong to me, but I couldn’t rid myself of it without closing off my connection to Vaeron.
And I would never do that again.
Maelsar helped me to my feet, and I braced myself on the table, peering down at my mate. He was so, so pale.
I rested my forehead against his, tears spilling from my eyes. “Don’t you fucking leave me. Not after everything.”
“I will not let him die, Seraelth,” Isra said, conviction strong in her tone.
“Thank you,” I whispered, unable to move. Stormwood tangled with metal in my nose, and I hated that the reek of ruby overpowered the scent that belonged only to my mate.
His skin was so cold against mine.
A heavy thud shook the ground beneath my feet.
“We have what we need,” Oshenai said. “But once we’re done, I need an explanation.”
“Whatever you want,” Maelsar swore. “Just save him. Please.”
Finally, I picked my head up, finding Oshenai and another male standing beside Isra.
“Can you open his mouth?” the healer asked me.
With trembling hands, I peeled it open, allowing him to pour the contents of a familiar purple vial down his throat. And another. And another.
“Keep holding,” he barked at Isra.
She shot him a glare but continued to weave luminous threads around Vaeron’s scar. The healer plucked the last bit of bronze from his flesh and tossed it aside. “Barbaric.”
“That’s your Koron and Korona’s doing,” I hissed, the potion starting to take effect on my mate and easing my own pain in the process.
“Is it true?” Oshenai asked Maelsar. He nodded in reply, his focus still on the healer’s actions.
Muttering under his breath, the male formed a lattice with his magic and placed it over Vaeron’s heart. “Silver,” he demanded.
Isra reached into the pocket of his bag and produced a glass bottle and dropper. Bringing the tip close to the wound, he released one slow drip, then another. A hiss filled the air, along with a pungent odor.
He frowned. “Why isn’t that working?”
Maelsar’s eyes met mine, realization in them. The Demon blood pumping in Vaeron’s veins. It had to be. But with how pious the Hathi were, exposing that would be his execution.
“Do you have something else you can try?” I asked, desperation edging my tone.
“Of course.” He rummaged in the pack, pulling out a glass tube of bright blue liquid. It moved thick and slow, the color unnatural; a potion unlike anything I’d ever seen. But if he thought it would bring Vaeron back, I didn’t care what he had done to make it.
“This is a Hathi secret. I wouldn’t use it on him if it weren’t important.” He poured half the vial’s contents into the wound, and the sting twisted down our bond.
“Let go now, Isra.”
Slowly, the shimmering magic receded into her. I braced for the moment death would rise to claim Vaeron again.
But the agony never came.
A choked sob escaped me. “It’s working.”
Maelsar exhaled, relief smoothing his pewter brows. “I thought I killed him. Fuck.”
Lyriasthe sprinted through the doorway, her face flushed from exertion, with Mayyal on her heels. The head housekeeper gasped, hands flying to her mouth as she took in the scene. “What happened to him?”
“He’ll be fine now. That’s what’s most important,” Maelsar said, striding toward them.
Mayyal hooked her thumbs together and pressed her hands over her heart. “Goddess save you all.”
Then she lifted her fingers to her forehead and whispered a prayer. Maelsar and Lyriasthe looked close to joining her. When I glanced back at the islanders, they already had.
I stroked Vaeron’s face, color returning to his cheeks. “Thank you,” I said to the three Hathi once they’d finished speaking to our Radiant Mother.
“I’ll make you something to eat and drink. You all look exhausted.” Mayyal sniffed, swiping her cheeks. She spun and rushed back the way she’d come.
My legs trembled as I found a chair and dragged it to the table. With each passing moment, the chain linking us relaxed, and a warmth spread through my limbs.
“He’ll be out for the rest of the night,” the healer murmured, attention still locked on Vaeron. “You should try to rest. The toll on you was great too. I can give you a draught to help you relax.”
“I’ll be fine,” I croaked. But that was a lie. There would be no sleep for me, not until I knew my mate would wake. Exhaustion sank into my bones, yet the adrenaline in my veins wouldn’t allow me to close my eyes.
“We’ll stay here with you,” Lyriasthe said, coming to my side. “Take turns keeping watch over him.”
“You won’t leave, will you?” I asked Isra and the healer.
“If you’ll allow us a place inside, we’ll stay,” Isra said. The male glared at her again.
What is going on with them?
“Oshenai and I will share a room. Isra is welcome to sleep on the floor,” he replied.
“Now is not the time, Thalyon,” Oshenai hissed.
He raised his hands and stomped away.
“If you’ll excuse my nephew,” Oshenai said, flicking his attention to Isra, whose face was impassive. But the barest twitch of her lips told me she was irritated.
“Now, why exactly did the Koron order his skin threaded with bronze?” Oshenai pressed.
Maelsar rubbed the back of his hand over his neck, attention flicking to me. “It’s best if we wait for Vaeron to wake to discuss everything.”
The chieftain studied Maelsar for a long moment. “Very well. But I shall know if you have schemed to trick me in the meantime. The Goddess always reveals the truth, in time.”
How right he was.
“I’ll show you to the spare rooms. There are enough for all of you,” Maelsar said, gesturing for the three to follow him.
Thalyon placed sleeping draughts on the table by the door. “In case you change your mind.”
I merely nodded my thanks, and he retreated into the hall with his kin, leaving Lyriasthe and me alone with Vaeron. A sob burst out of me. “I thought he was gone.”
My friend wrapped me in a tight embrace. “I know.”
I clung to her, fingers twisting in her skirts. “I was so, so stupid. I shouldn’t have kept him at arm’s length again. What if he had perished and I wasted all that time?”
She rocked me until my tears subsided. “I’m so glad you two reconciled. Finally.” She huffed a laugh.
“Thank you for supporting me until it happened,” I told her.
Vaeron groaned, and I whirled, eyes flying over him in search of the tiniest drop of fresh blood. But he remained fast asleep and showed no signs of his wound reopening.
“I’m going to get him a pillow and blanket,” I said, rising and padding to the sleeping chamber.
When I returned, Lyriasthe and I cleaned around his wound, then covered him. A chilled breeze swept through the broken window. Shivering, I used my light to stretch sheets across the frame, blocking out the air.
Moving him away would have been better, but I was terrified of jostling him and causing more harm. I pressed my lips to his forehead, lingering as our bond hummed, content rather than panicked. Until finally, my body protested, and I forced my feet toward the sofa.
Curling into a tight ball, I settled against the arm, still watching my mate. Checking our bond every few minutes to ensure it remained intact. Alive. An hour passed, and my eyes grew heavier and heavier.
I sent one last message through our mental connection before drifting off, hoping, wherever he was, he would hear me.
“I love you, Vaeron.”