Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Minutes before the collapse...
"Sebastian?” Cleo called, taking a careful step forward into what she suspected was the hall. Miss Martin had left her side as soon as someone screamed, leaving Cleo to shuffle her way along, tripping over pieces of rubble.
This way, said her senses. Go this way.
Voices called as others moved away from her. The entire building shook, but everything in her screamed to keep going.
Someone was coughing nearby. "Bloody hell," Sebastian spat. "What are you doing here?"
Relief flooded through her, and she hurried forward as much as she could. "You're h-hurt?" It was partly a question.
"Cleo." A hand caught her wrist, and then she was being dragged sideways as Sebastian listed toward the wall. His voice was raw, cracked. "You've got to get out of here. The roof's... coming down. The whole building's... coming... down."
"I know," she told him, because she'd seen it. She was more concerned with him and what else she'd seen. "You're bleeding. Where? Where are you bleeding?"
He hesitated, but she was shoving aside his clothes, trying to find the source of his forthcoming death. She could stop this. She had to stop this!
"You need to get out of here."
"Not without you," she told him, even as a nearby wall collapsed, taking with it part of the roof. Cleo cried out, her hand curling through his in fright as something sharp slashed her cheek as it flew past.
"Cleo." There was a world of information in that one word. Sebastian slumped back against the wall, his voice sounding strained. His legs gave way, dragging him down—and her with him. "It's done. T-the ceiling collapsed upon her."
"Who?"
"Morgana." He wheezed. "It's done. She's done. I finally... did it."
"If we don't hurry, then the ceiling might collapse on us too!" As if to punctuate her words, something fell with a heavy crash nearby. Cleo gasped.
"I don't think... that I'm going... to be able to manage." Sebastian pressed something into her hands. A ruined piece of knife. It felt plain, heavier than expected, after all this fuss. "Take this... with you. I destroyed it, but... make sure... it’s melted down."
"No!" She caught his coat by the lapels as Sebastian slid down the wall, and she landed on her knees in front of him. The knife tumbled into her skirts. "No! I won't let this happen!" Hot tears wet her blindfold. "I won't!"
Strong fingers curled around her wrists. "You've seen it... haven't you?"
The entire building was shaking. She screwed her eyes shut behind her blindfold, pressing her forehead to his chest.
"Cleo, it won't stop bleeding." He sounded like he was explaining something to a child. "She stabbed me with the Blade. It's the type of wound that cannot be healed... or so they say."
Cleo tore at her skirts, wadding them up and pressing them against the hot, weeping slash at his side.
She couldn't stop crying, but she was determined, even if premonition had been willfully silent on this topic.
In every vision she'd seen, every twist of the future that she'd tried to imagine, all she'd ever seen was herself crying over his body when he finally stopped breathing.
"I won't let it happen! I won't!"
"Cleo, you need to get out of h-here." He was slurring now. Hands cupped her face, his trembling fingers holding her in place. "I don't want to... die... knowing that you're still in here."
"Well, you'd better help me get out then, hadn't you?" she demanded. "Because I'm not going anywhere without you." Her throat closed over. "You tried to stop them from killing Mrs. Ross, didn't you? This is my fault. This happened because I demanded that you save her!"
"Hush. Hush..."
Cleo shook her head. "If I hadn't demanded such a thing, you wouldn't have been there." She was flat out sobbing now. "I'm so selfish!"
"No. No, you're not." He was whispering now, still holding onto her face. "You're the most amazing person I've ever met. It was worth it. I'm finally free, Cleo."
"Bastian—"
"Hush." His voice sounded closer, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. "Just hush. Just give me this. Once."
And then his mouth brushed against hers, his breath teasing her lips. Cleo froze in shock as Sebastian finally kissed her, so sweetly it almost took her breath away. A simple touch, but one filled with so much yearning, so much need...
She could feel the tingle of premonition itching over her skin. Not yet! She wanted this to last, wanted—
A vision speared through her; a way in which she could save his life.
She could see the threads of sorcery dancing through her own fingers, see how she could save him!
Repercussions stretched out, consequences echoing with a warning cry, but she didn't heed them.
She had done this. Now, she could undo it. All she had to do was—
Sorcery wove into a fine thread between her fingers.
Cleo struck with it, pressing her hand over his chest and forcing that fine web to curl around his heart, binding it to hers as his mouth tore from her own.
Something wrenched in her chest, and Sebastian screamed, his body arcing off the floor and pressing up into the palm of her hand as she threw everything she had into this last, final spell.
A way to bind him to her, so that not even death could steal him away.
It hurt. Gods, it hurt. She was screaming too, her heart resettling in her chest before finally smoothing into a steady, deliberate rhythm again. Something soft pressed against her face, and as she came back to herself, she found herself lying atop him, her head resting against his chest.
His heart beat beneath her ear, a rhythm that synced perfectly with hers.
His wound was wet and bloody beneath her hand, but sealing slowly. It was a wound that would never fully heal, would always form a weakness for him, but one which owned no mortal effect upon him, at least, not for now.
As for the rest... She had time to think, time to work out how to deal with it... all of it.
"What... have you done?" Sebastian whispered hoarsely. His hands gripped her upper arms, almost painfully, as if he was frightened. "Cleo?"
"I've saved your life, Bastian."
No matter what the consequences were, She wouldn't regret a thing.
"Now help me get out of here."