Chapter Fifty-Five
KHALIDA
Everything slowed down, until all that was left was her and Talik. The rest of the world could be damned.
She dragged herself to him, moving the dirt, leaves, and everything else that had fallen on top of him. She placed her head on Talik’s chest, cradling him. She scrambled to find a hint of a heartbeat, a small gasp of breath.
Anything that would mean he was alive.
She hit his chest and replaced her head on his heart, willing him to breathe.
But she got nothing.
“No.” Her heart shattered into a million fragmented pieces as tears streamed down her face. “Please, Talik.” Her body shook and her throat constricted as she struggled to say the words. Shock threatened to take over, but she didn’t dare give in. “Please, Talik. Don’t do this.”
She moved his hands from his chest—red sticky blood drenched hers.
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been there when Talik had been injured, she may as well have been delivering the blows.
He was only there because of her. Khalida scooted around him, gently picking up his head as she closed his eyes.
“Bring him back!” Khalida yelled.
No one answered her.
Slamming her hand on the ground next to Talik’s head, she wanted to scream into the abyss—demand the world stop in its track.
But that wasn’t how the world worked. Around her, the world continued on.
The tourists were slowly coming awake, their voices growing increasingly louder with each passing second.
Now it was too late.
She held her trembling hand next to where his beating heart should have been and felt nothing.
Lowering herself, so she lay curled around Talik, she breathed in his scent, imprinting it on her mind.
Her head on his chest, she held up her wrist and stared at the empty space where the consort mark had been.
Whatever Talik had bargained with, he had ensured that she would not follow him in death.
And now she was alive, and the world had lost its vibrancy and color, and all she had left was this nightmarish existence. Alive but not living.
Kade had the relic. He would ensure that it remained out of Ninhursag’s hands. And now, Khalida had nothing else to live for.
The wounds were too deep. His flesh had been cut up, as if he was a toy. Talik hadn’t been able to heal fast enough and had succumbed to the injuries.
She opened her mouth to scream, but all she could let out was a hoarse whisper that vibrated through her body. It was far more painful than any scream she had ever been able to muster.
Around her, she could barely hear the chaos that had descended around them.
Humans were yelling as they were coming to, the sirens in the background pierced the air.
But she didn’t care. Nothing else mattered as she held on to Talik’s hand, wishing for the impossible—knowing she would never be whole again, nor did she want to be.
Her heart hurt. Each breath was agonizing pain that she hadn’t felt in centuries, not since Sidra’s death.
And this time, there was no one else to share the pain. Or the memories.
No.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
Talik had cheated death more than any other Atlantean she had known—he had centuries left to live.
She held on to Talik’s lifeless body, trying to shake him awake as everything began to feel numb, and the world continued to lose its color and vibrancy.
Again. He couldn’t be gone. One second, he was taunting the wayfarers, and then he was on the ground, bleeding from wounds she knew no one would survive. Even an Atlantean.
A shadow appeared over her. She shielded her eyes as she glared at the intruder, trying to identify who dared come near her.
Desert-colored hair gleamed in the sunlight, casting a bright halo around his head.
Lucien.
He kneeled on the other side of Talik as he gazed up to the sun. The silence between them grew, but Khalida didn’t acknowledge or interact.
“What would you do to have him back?”
Khalida wiped a tear and looked at Lucien, seeing him for the first time.
He was ancient—and while he presented as a chaotic being who didn’t care about the world, he couldn’t quite hide the rawness in his gaze.
There was a sliver of emotion in his glacial stare, the barest hint of pain.
Pain that she knew was reflected in her own gaze.
He blinked, and it was gone.
“What would you do to have him back?” Lucien slowly repeated. He looked Talik over. “Alive and well.”
Khalida tried to comprehend what Lucien was asking her, but it didn’t make sense. No one had the power to bring back the dead. Not even the ancient gods. She swallowed. “I would do anything.”
Lucien sat next to her cross-legged, so they were at eye level. “Anything?”
The silence stretched between them. In the background, the voices became muted.
“Yes,” Khalida answered. She would give up her life without thinking if it meant that Talik could live. “I would only ask for a day together.”
There would never be enough time in the world, even if they lived until the end of time, to say goodbye, to have their last kiss. For her to tell him that she didn’t hate him anymore, had fallen in love with him a second time.
“A life for a life?” Lucien asked. “Once this has been given, it can never be undone. Not even the O’hurani has the power to alter this course.”
Khalida blinked, her heart in her throat as she tried to decipher Lucien’s comments. What game was Lucien playing? She held on to Talik’s arm, refusing to give up just yet. “Without hesitation.”
“What if it isn’t your life?”
Khalida hesitated, but only for a second. Talik had always told her she had too many heroic tendencies, and she had laughed him off. But in the end, Talik had been the hero, willing to die for her and the world. She would be willing to sacrifice the world for him. In a heartbeat. “Yes.”
“You would offer your ability to create life?”
Khalida looked up, her mouth open. She touched her stomach. She thought of Sidra and countless futures, but without Talik they would not exist. The silence between them stretched.
“Yes.”
He smiled sadly. A single blood tear streaked down his face. “Do not squander this gift.”
Lucien clicked his fingers. The sound echoed like an explosion.
“Even the ancient gods do not have the power to destroy a consort bond. They cannot take what they have not been freely given.”
Talik gasped.