Chapter 35 #3
“She’s okay, right? She’s okay.” Tears left Natasha’s eyes, but she looked up at me, begging me to say yes.
“I’m sorry.”
Natasha shook her head, trying to hold back the sobs. Taking a calming breath, she held my arm as she walked past me to her second mom. The woman who had raised her.
“Hey…” Natasha smiled, kneeling next to her while André stood with me, his muscles tensing from the pain taking over him too.
When he looked at me, I shook my head, she wasn’t going to survive this. She had minutes.
Whipping the tears as they escaped her, Natasha carefully observed the injury. Like mine, her hands trembled over Isis, trying to find a way to close her wound.
We had none.
Our mate glanced up at me, suddenly hopeful. “Will my blood…?”
André shook his head, his jaw tightening as he tried to remain strong for her, while he felt her heart breaking along with his.
The sobs Natasha had been trying to hold back escaped her, but she looked down at Isis, caressing her hair. “You are going to be okay.” Emotion clogged her throat, forcing her to swallow. “It will be okay,” she promised barely able to speak.
Isis just stared at her, like she desperately wanted to believe her.
Quiet cries came from behind us, and I realized we were surrounded by our friends, the people who loved her. Vanessa and Alice came to our side, standing at my left.
“I love you…” Natasha whispered, still caressing Isis’s head. “Thank you for being my mom when Anastasia couldn’t. For being my best friend, for always defending me, and for getting into all kinds of shenanigans with me.”
That brought a weak smile out of Isis, and her mouth opened. “I-I…”
“We love you too, Isis,” André offered.
I nodded, unable to say the words I had just shared with her a few minutes ago. My jaw clenched furiously as I tried not to cry in front of her.
Natasha kissed her forehead, tears freely falling from her eyes as Isis’s troubled breathing worsened.
Commotion came from ahead, and I lifted my gaze to find my dad, Zeline, Garion, and Luane pinning the Dark One to the ground.
Gustav crouched over him from the other side, his hands swiftly gripping the Dark One’s head.
Powerful red energy shot out of him and into the demon, draining him of all supernatural power until it killed him.
The Dark One’s all-black eyes widened with terror when he felt the assault, Gustav’s Overlord power overtaking him until he began to desiccate.
His sickening green body crumbled, becoming red ashes that fell toward the sand.
The red ashes scattered along the ground as though pushed away by a nonexistent wind that didn’t lead anywhere.
Turning black, last of him finally faded into the scorched sand.
Bj?rn blinked to Isis’s side at the same time, a man again, collapsing to his knees when he saw she was dying.
“I—” Isis tried to speak, but he shook his head.
“Don’t…” Lifting her hand to his mouth, he kissed it, his light amber eyes briefly closing with the feel of her skin. “I have a confession to make… I fell in love with you.”
Isis smiled; the gesture marred by the blood staining her lips.
Bj?rn’s jaw trembled as he tried to continue smiling for her. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me… There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Luv.”
Tears left her eyes as she looked up at him, squeezing his hand while a million I love yous swirled in her gaze.
André and I knelt at either side of Natasha, wrapping an arm around her to give her support.
Swallowing the pain, Bj?rn gently kissed Isis, his lips lingering for a moment on hers. Then, his gaze lifted to Natasha’s with a determined gleam. “I will heal her.”
Tensing in our arms, Natasha gasped. “Really?”
He nodded. “My Fae nature is stronger than anything else.” Copper-colored power immediately flowed out of the hand that held Isis’s and into her body. His other hand carefully rested above the gaping wound, sending pure, ethereal energy into her.
A new sense of hope rushed into all of us. My lungs filled with a sense of relief, and I pulled Natasha to me, kissing the top of her head.
Several minutes passed, but everyone remained silent while Bj?rn used his Fae power to heal the woman he loved. Love poured out of him almost as strongly as his energy.
Isis suddenly inhaled a full breath, oxygen finally filling her lungs, and everyone began to celebrate behind us.
Natasha looked up at André and me, grinning as she wiped her face.
Isis blinked, trying to hold her bearings while strength returned to her, and lifted his hand from her stomach, looking at herself.
“Don’t get up,” Bj?rn warned, his healing still pouring into her as he stopped her. There was still a very serious injury on her torso, but I could no longer see through it. His pure energy had stitched together most of it.
Closing her eyes, she focused on taking slow, deep breaths, helping herself become more stable.
“I love you,” Isis finally whispered, holding Bj?rn’s gaze steadily and squeezing his hand.
The look of adoration he gave her was humbling.
A small tremor called my attention to his body, and I noticed the energy no longer flowed smoothly from him.
It had started sputtering, diminishing, until it stopped.
“Is he done healing her?” Natasha asked into our shadow link, noticing the same thing.
I couldn’t answer, I didn’t know.
Leaning over Isis, Bj?rn caressed the side of her face with his fingers, claiming her lips softly, this time more meaningfully. “I love you,” he whispered.
My heart stopped beating when his hand began to disintegrate into shimmering gold ash.
“Bj?rn!” Natasha gasped.
André looked at me horrified. “Bj?rn!” he called too but received no answer.
“No…” Isis sobbed, trying to touch him but his arm became golden ash too, swirling out of her reach.
The vanishing continued toward his chest.
Bj?rn hadn’t healed the woman he loved; he’d willingly given all of his life force to her.
“Shh, Luv. It’s okay,” he soothed her, his body glowing under the sun as it slowly broke apart.
“Don’t do this,” Natasha begged, sobbing.
“Don’t cry, Dearie.” Bj?rn smiled lovingly at her. “I have lived two thousand years, and I will live a thousand more… in your hearts.”
He winked at us as a magical wind swept over the desert, turning the rest of him to shimmering golden ash. The breeze lifted his ashes to the sky, taking him with it into the Ether.
“No!” the desperate cry left Isis’s throat, turning into broken sobs while she remained on the ground, unable to move from her weakness and the pain ripping through her at losing him.
“Thank you for all the memories, Bj?rn…” I sent toward him, even though he could no longer hear me, letting my tears fall in his honor.
Natasha whirled into my chest, clinging to me when ragged cries tore through her too. I held her to me tightly, feeling André pull us into his arms too.
My chest shook as the three of us held each other fiercely, pain slicing our hearts apart.