Icome to in hell. Painful light stabs my eye sockets, and I reach for my head with shaking hands. I don’t remember falling asleep, but I must have dozed off. It feels like knives are burrowing into my skull, slicing my brain to ribbons. As I push myself up from where I’m laying on the love seat, I try to focus, but the room is spinning.
Idris. I need to find Idris.
I stumble out the door and make it to the hallway before I have to lean against the wall to rest. That’s how Sarah finds me.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” She rushes over and wraps her arm around my shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, but the sudden movement sends needles of pain into my scalp.
“Get Idris, please,” I whisper, hating how weak I sound.
Thankfully, Sarah doesn’t question me. She helps me over to the couch, props me up with a pillow, and starts speaking urgently into her phone.
“Don’t tell the guys,” I beg. Her worried gaze sharpens. “I don’t want them to be scared.”
Sarah doesn’t make any promises, but she also doesn’t make any more calls.
“You’re fading,” she says, rubbing my cold hands between hers.
She can clearly see I’m not okay, so there’s no point pretending otherwise. “It’s more painful than I expected,” I admit.
“And there was nothing in the book?”
“Not unless there’s a way to bring my family back to life and find their stash of talismans without djinn magic. Otherwise, it’s a dead end.”
I cringe at my unintentional wording.A dead end.That’s what I’m going to be if we can’t find some sort of breakthrough. Sarah squeezes my hand, and I let my eyes fall closed. I don’t want to see pity when she looks at me.
Moments later, I hear footsteps coming our way. They stop in front of me. I force my eyes back open and see Idris. He appraises me with a tense look. Without a word, he presses his hands to my forehead, and the agony begins to fade. Slowly, the room comes back into focus, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“You’re not better,” he says. “I only hid the pain.”
“I know, Idris.” I nod weakly and lift my hands, watching as they tremble in the air between us. “Thank you for making it bearable.”
He stands and turns his back on me without a word.
“I opened the book,” I tell him, desperate to change the subject. I don’t want him to see me as a fragile, breakable damsel in need of a savior. Idris turns his head slightly toward me, his profile flawless in the low light of the living room. “It had some rules, tiers of power—that kind of thing. But it was clear a talisman has to come from a relative or the elders.”
“Long dead, all of them,” Idris says.
I already knew that, but his words bring a sort of finality with them. I sink a little further into despair. “I’m sure we’ll think of something,” I mutter, but I’m not sure I really believe it.
“Damn right we will,” Gideon growls, stepping into my line of sight. Anger and hurt burn in his eyes. “I could feel your pain. It stopped.” He rubs his chest and looks at Idris. “But the bond—it’s weaker somehow.”
Sarah gasps, her hand flying to her mouth.
I guess our last secret is out of the bag now.
When Gideon realizes what he revealed, he turns to his mom. “I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but Sheena is my fated mate. I knew it the second we met.” Gideon shifts his focus back to me, and I couldn’t look away if I tried. “I followed her back then out of curiosity.” His voice cracks. “I follow her now because I can’t imagine life without her.”
I hold my hand out, and he sinks down and wraps his arms around me. Safe in the cuddle, I indulge in the fantasy that everything will be alright after all. It can’t last, though.
“Idris took the pain, but he can’t make me better,” I say. I wanted to spare him from seeing this for as long as possible, but Gideon deserves to hear the truth from me. “The book didn’t have any answers, no treasure map, no loopholes.” His arms tighten around me, and I choke down a sob. “Gideon, I’m fading. Fast.”
“Then we will seal our mate bond now.” He growls the words directly in my ear, but everyone hears him. Sarah makes a choking sound, and I know there’s something I’m missing.
“I’m not saying no, but what will that do?” I pull back and meet his eyes.
“It will bind our souls together. It could cure you.”
