I crawl to Ciprian’s side and press my trembling fingers to his neck. His pulse is strong. I sag in relief and check the others, finding them in a similar position. By the time I reach the fae, his glacial blue eyes are open.
“You’re awake. That’s good,” I say cautiously, hiding my shock as hope swallows me whole. No one can know what happened here. I swore not to tell in my wish, and I have no intention of figuring out what would happen to me if I violated magic as powerful as Sheena’s.
“I’m going to need help to get them out of here.”
The sun beams on my face, and my eyes sting. This time it’s not from heat, or bloodlust, or thirst, or magic—it’s pure emotion. I can’t believe Sheena managed it.
Any minute now, my skin will blister as my blood boils in my veins. I’ll fall to the oil and piss-stained street, eyes melting in their sockets as they face the force of the sun’s wrath for the final time. The warm, glorious light will fade, and I’ll be back where I belong: in the bloody, endless, impenetrable dark.
But it doesn’t happen.
I don’t die.
Everything is bright.
I’m exhausted—haven’t slept a wink—but I can’t stop walking. If I go to my apartment to rest, I might wake up and realize it’s all a dream. That a djinn didn’t lift my sun curse and give mewhat no vampire, turned or born, has ever been gifted: life in the light.
So I keep walking. Shirt unbuttoned to the waist; I put one foot in front of the other. Each step is better than the last.
Near the Strip, I pass tired, hungover human tourists still wearing their wrinkled clothes from the night before. Sequined, jewel-toned dresses catch rays of sunlight and shoot chaotic, squirming fractals of color against a Grecian-inspired building.
An older man wipes his glasses on his shirt, then fumbles in his pocket for a cigarette.
When I leave the tourists behind and pass an apartment complex, I watch a small, scruffy dog with a crooked tail and a bright pink bow piss on a scaly succulent. It’s visibly suffering from the injustice of countless lifted legs.
The dog looks at me and growls, then takes two steps back. I smile at her. She pees again, the stream lit by magnificent, glorious daylight. When her owner glances up from her phone to see why her baby is riled, I hide my fangs and wink.
The woman’s eyes dart over my exposed chest, and she blushes. I marvel at the clarity of my vision—the bloom in her cheeks as capillaries burst to the surface, a tide of blood rolling beneath her skin.
I dip my chin as she drags the dog away and keep walking.
When my stomach growls, I buy an ice cream cone from a corner store near a park, then eat it sitting on a bench with my face upturned. I have the spot to myself. It’s the only one in full sun. Every other bench is crowded with sweaty people searching for shade and a break from the heat.
Gods. I think Sheena really did it. I think my sun curse is gone.
This changes everything.
I stuff the end of the cone in my mouth and keep walking.
I end up outside Celine’s apartment. My hand hovers over thedoor. I want to share this moment. With her. With Luca. Ciprian’s face runs through my mind, and I push it out. His friend gave me this gift; not him.
The door opens without me knocking, putting me face-to-face with Luca. He blinks in surprise before grabbing two fistfuls of my shirt and yanking me inside.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m fine?—”
“Honest to fuck, Alistair, you’re freaking me out. Forty-eight hours ago, you looked half dead. Now, I find you skulking around during the heat of the day. You might as well stick your head in the oven?—”
“Luca, I’m fine,” I assure him. His eyes are wild, and a secondary warmth rolls over me. This one has nothing to do with the sun.
Celine runs down the hall, wings tucked, her brown eyes wide as she looks from me to Luca and back again. “What’s going on? I heard yelling, are you hurt?”
“I don’t know!” Luca waves his hands at me. “I found him outside, and the UV index is insane today.” Since when does he monitor the UV index? Overgrown lizard that he is, Luca loves the sun, and it loves him right back.
“Take a breath and look at me,” I say. “Am I burned?”
Luca takes his time staring, narrowing his eyes as he notices what I’m having a hard time coming to terms with myself. Unblemished skin. “I don’t believe it,” he mutters.
