43. Chapter Forty-Two #3
It was then I realized that something had changed in our bond, something that became clearer when I no longer had the weight of the dungeons pressing in on me.
As I tore down castle hallways, ignoring the shock of agony that rippled through me with every footfall, avoiding every startled fae I passed, I realized I could sense Isoria’s presence.
There was a tugging sensation, like the bond was becoming more of a targetable thing tying us together, alerting me to her location.
I followed it toward our quarters, tearing through every room until I reached my bedroom.
The tunnels.
I hastened to open the trick shelf and plunged into the dim passageway, not stopping to grab a candle. I didn’t need a light when the route was familiar and our bond guided me.
Soon, I heard her ragged breathing, saw the dim outline of her slumped form on the ground.
“Isa?” I ran to her, my heart twisting with terror. “What happened?”
Dropping to my knees, I reached for her, finding her clothes slick with an alarming amount of blood. “Mortius’ shadows,” I cursed.
“I couldn’t risk the castle hallways.” She swallowed thickly, her eyelids fluttering. “Y-you found me.”
“I’ll always find you,” I murmured, cradling her against me.
Flames sparked erratically along her skin, illuminating the wound in her stomach and the bleeding gash in her shoulder.
Flaming underworld, I thought. I didn’t hesitate, not even when I felt her sparks singe my clothes and heat my hands.
Those bursts of pain were nothing compared to what I was already enduring with her.
I pressed my palms to the worst wound—the one in her gut—desperate to do anything to save her.
“Can you resurrect?” I whispered. “Is that what your flames are doing?”
She was weak, her voice was a breath I had to lean forward to hear. “Need…someone. To help.”
Lifting her, I swept back through the tunnel to my room. Her head lulled against my chest, and in the daylight, I could see how alarmingly pale and weak she’d grown.
“Tell me how to save you.” My words came out in a frantic rush. “Who do you need to help you? What must I do? Where do we go?”
“I…” She was losing consciousness, her eyelids fluttering again.
“Isa!” I cried out, rushing into my washroom and laying her in the tub as her flames sparked brighter. “Wake up. Stay with me.”
I began rifling wildly through my washroom cabinets, searching for any supplies that could help me with stopping her blood loss. “Open your eyes, Isa,” I begged. “Don’t go.”
When I turned, her eyes remained shut and she was so quiet and still, terror gripped me. Was she already gone?
“Isoria!” I roared. I knelt beside her, feeling for a pulse. It was faint, but there. “Please. Please don’t leave me.”
Fury like I’d never felt before overtook me, the only thing dulling the panic climbing my throat. I would not lose myself in terror now, would not drown in numbness and despair.
First, I was going to save Isoria. A world without her in it was not an option. I wouldn’t even consider it.
Then I was going to find who’d wounded her and I was going to kill them.
If my emotions hadn’t been all-consuming, I might have wondered why I felt this way or tried to blame it all on self-preservation. But the spike of panic racing through my veins hadn’t started to think about our bond and what the consequences of her injury would be.
I called for Orchid, who blanched as soon as she found Isoria in my tub, her wounds filling it with blood.
“Do not let her die,” I ground out.
“I could call for a healer,” she choked out.
“No! No one else can see her. No one else can know.” More sparks surrounded Isoria, and Orchid blinked, terror and confusion warring across her expression. “We have to help her resurrect. Her sparks are there—no healer can see and know.”
There was blood on my hands and shirt as I turned, prepared to storm back into the secret passage. But shifting shadows blocked my path.
My blood turned to ice the same moment I noticed that my pain nearly vanished, all but a distant echo of my pain snuffed out like a candleflame. No. I knew what that meant—I was losing her.
“Mortius,” I pleaded, dropping to my knees. “Don’t do this, not now. Please. Spare her. Give me another curse to bear. Anything.”
This time, the god of death didn’t laugh while I kneeled for him. His grating voice almost sounded…understanding. “Begging cannot stop death.” His shadows swirled until they coalesced into the shape of a male hovering over me.
“But she’s a phoenix shifter. She can defy death.”
“Her time to do that draws short.”
“Shouldn’t I be dying too? Are you here for me too, because of our bond?”
“Oh, young prince.” Mortius’ shadows swirled, like he was moving.
“Your studies have been thorough, but the records are mistaken. If she dies, your blood bond dies with her. Bonded cannot kill one another without them both dying, it’s true, but if someone else strikes the killing blow, only the wounded one dies. ”
What? My head spun. All this time, either of us could have cleverly arranged for the other to die.
“When she dies, you’re free.”
But I ignored Mortius’ words. Freedom meant nothing, not if it came at the cost of Isoria’s life.
The words nearly stuck in my throat. “How much time do we have before she’s lost?” A bitter, ironic thought struck me. “Or will she turn into a revenant before even you can take her?”
“Why do you think I’m here early?” Mortius retorted, like I was a child to be scolded. “We’ll have mere minutes once she breathes her last. Let’s see who is the fastest: you, the revenant curse, or me.”
My stomach churned, hating the way he punctuated that final statement with a dark laugh, like this was an amusing game.
Who would win? I leapt to my feet and charged for the hidden passage, tearing through the dim tunnel and out into the night.
I left the castle grounds and raced down back alleys through the city.
If anyone saw me in such a state, they were either too terrified or too slow to catch me in the growing darkness.
By the time I pounded on the door, my chest ached and my lungs burned.
I had to keep moving to keep the panic at bay, had to keep telling myself that I still had time.
Scarlet opened the door, eyes widening at the sight of me standing on her doorstep, coated in blood and gasping for breath. “Your Highness.”
The last of my pain ebbed away, and dread sank in my stomach. Isoria was gone.
“I need you to tell me how to save my bride. Now.”
She stepped back, letting me step inside. “What do you mean?”
“Tell me how to help a phoenix shifter resurrect. Someone attacked her. She’s—she’s gone.” My voice cracked.
Scarlet gaped. “Your betrothed… She’s a phoenix shifter?”
“Yes,” I said desperately. “But there’s no time to waste. Tell me how to save her.”
She swallowed, clasping her hands together in front of her.
“Resurrection magic comes at a cost. For her magic to work, someone else… must agree to share the pain. They have to sacrifice themselves and experience death and rebirth with them.” She hesitated.
“I’ve heard it specified that it must be someone close to them, but I’ve only ever heard of phoenix shifters sacrificing.
I’m not sure it’s possible with someone who is… not.”
“I’ll have to try.” I didn’t add that there was also the possibility that I wouldn’t count as being close to Isoria. After all, we were forced together in a bond, but was that enough, or did being close mean that she had to care for me? “How?”
Scarlet glanced away, as if afraid to say the words.
“Tell me!” I hesitated, softening my tone. For the second time that night, I begged. “Please. I’ll do anything. Make any sacrifice, endure any torment, die any death, as long as she is spared.”