Chapter 118
Volik
Nix goes limp in my arms.
And I jump.
My knees slam into the ground.
I send out a frantic pulse of magic, shaking the hillside.
I shift Nix onto my lap as I sit.
“Stay with me.” I try to force a purr out through my terror, but it does not work. “Stay here.”
A shout comes from the castle.
I lean Nix back against my arm and bite my other wrist.
My hand trembles as I press my blood to her lips.
“Please,” I beg her. “Please,” I beg the fates.
But she does not swallow.
She does not wake.
And even in my panic… my heartbeat slows.
Because hers slows.
I have failed.
Someone lands beside us. Then another.
“Uncle.” I look up at him. “We are dying.”
His eyes swim with sorrow, and he drops to his knees beside me.
“Oh gods.” My aunt’s voice cracks.
“Get Barth,” Uncle chokes out. “We need a healer.”
My aunt jumps away.
And my heart slows a little more.
“Volik. My boy.”
I wrap my arms around Nix and hug her to me. “She killed him.” My inhales are shallow. “She saved me.”
My uncle shuffles closer, placing hands on both of us, helping me hold her. “She’s a good mate. You couldn’t have found better.”
I blink, wetness rolling down my cheeks. “We did not have long enough.”
“It’s not over.”
My heart slows further.
Gold glows. And a woman steps out of the blackness.
Barth’s grandmother.
“I felt your call.” She walks a circle around us. “So much magic.”
“Help them,” my uncle pleads.
“Turn the girl. Be chest to chest.”
It is hard to keep my eyes open, but I lift Nix and turn her to face me.
She does not wake.
Her muscles are loose.
Her arms hang at her sides.
I lean her against my chest.
My uncle helps me remove the remains of my shirt.
I want to feel as much of her soft skin as I can.
For as long as I can.
There is another glow.
More voices.
My aunt. Barth. His mate.
They talk to me.
Around me.
But I just hold Nix.
I hold my Love.
“Do something!” someone cries.
“It’s no longer up to me. They are in the hands of the fates now.”
My arms are too heavy.
I let myself fall back against the grass.
I keep Nix with me. Her body aligned with mine.
Chest to chest.
I rest one hand between her shoulder blades. Where her skin is exposed.
I slide the other under the bottom of her shirt, at the base of her spine.
Someone cries.
Our hearts slow, the beats too far apart now.
This is better.
Passing from the world is better like this, together.
My gravito crawls from the corners of my eyes.
Down my cheeks.
Down my neck.
The tendrils of it move over my chest.
And I can feel it. When they move into her.
When the shadowy lines of power crawl off my hands onto her back.
They slither from my chest to hers.
They weave between our ribs.
They hold us close.
My heart prepares for its next beat.
And I—