Chapter 17
XAVIAN
She was convulsing in my arms, her body arching like it was being torn apart from within.
I could see the fire in her veins, glowing faintly under her skin as if the blade was burning her alive.
Morgan's eyes were wide, unseeing, rolled back to whites, and her grip on Virelya's hilt was ironclad, fingers locked white-knuckled around the leather as if fused to it.
The whispers hit me too, faint echoes bleeding through our bond, but they were nothing compared to what she must have been enduring, her gasps turning to ragged screams that echoed off the warehouse walls.
Panic surged through me, raw and unchecked, a terror I hadn't felt since the exile, since Nyra's betrayal sealed me to this curse.
This wasn't supposed to happen, not like this, not after the runes had gone so smoothly, drawing her closer instead of ripping her apart.
"Morgan!" I shouted, my voice breaking as I wrapped my hands around hers, prying at her fingers with all the strength I had left, nails digging into her skin until blood welled up.
She didn't respond, didn't even flinch, her body thrashing against mine while the blade hummed viciously, its presence in my mind twisting into something triumphant, like it had finally found a way to feed deeper than before.
I yanked harder, feeling the bones in her hand grind under the pressure, but her grip held, unyielding, the surge pulling her deeper into whatever hell it had unleashed.
Blood trickled from her nose, her mouth, staining her lips red, and her breaths came in shallow, wheezing bursts that told me she was slipping away, dying right here in this grim room because of my arrogance, my need to test her limits.
I shifted my hold, grabbing the blade itself with one hand while keeping the other on her wrist, channeling what remained of my muted power through the bond, willing it to sever, to release her.
The wards on the walls flickered in response, a faint pulse of energy rippling through the air, but it bounced off Virelya like water on oil, the blade rejecting my command, its whispers laughing in my head now, mocking the futility.
"Let her go!" I roared at it, pouring every ounce of will into the push, the air thickening with the strain, but her convulsions only worsened, her skin paling to a ghostly white as the glow in her veins brightened, pulsing in time with her weakening heartbeat.
She was being consumed, essence draining into the void I'd fed for so long, and I could feel it through the bond, the entity inside reveling in this fresh connection, pulling her under where I couldn't follow.
Desperation clawed at me, guilt twisting like a knife in my gut because this was my fault, my curse dragging her into the abyss, and if I didn't stop it now, she'd be gone, lost to the same hunger that had eroded me piece by piece.
Her screams faded to whimpers, her body going limp in spasms, and I knew there was no time, no other way.
I released her for a split second, lunging across the room to the corner where I'd stashed old tools scavenged from the warehouse depths, my hands shaking as I grabbed the axe leaning against the wall, its edge dull but heavy enough for what needed doing.
Horror flooded me, bile rising in my throat at the thought, but she was dying, fading before my eyes, and this brutality was the only severance left.
I swung back to her, dropping to my knees beside her crumpled form, the axe raised high, my vision blurring with the terror of it, guilt screaming in my mind even as I brought the dull blade down hard on her wrist.