His heartbeat is slowing.
What do I do what do I do—?
There's no way he'll survive.
That realization chokes me up.
I hear Baal on the phone behind me, maybe calling a doctor.
But Tobias and Gabriel's expressions are grim, and I can't see Xavier from here but I know he's there. I know he's watching.
And they're letting me have my time.
They're giving me these last few moments.
But that doesn't make sense…
Last night, you said you loved me. Just last night you made my heart so full while breaking it all at once. You don't even remember it because you're so fucking cruel.
“Don't… be sad…” Christian’s broken voice is like a clear, sharp bell through my frozen panic. “This… will end it.”
A broken sound escapes me.
It feels like agony. My vision is blurring.
“You can't end it on your fucking own.” My voice carries in my ears as I hold him flush against me, dragging a hand through his hair. “What about me, baby, what about me? You promised you’d try.”
Fear is tightening its grip around my throat. My pulse is so loud in my ears, it feels like my heart’s about to rip out of my fucking chest.
“I will,” he whispers. “I’ll…showyou. Hide… my body… Six hours.”
“Don't do this.” You’re the only one who could reduce me to begging. “Please don’t do this.Please don’t do this,” I’ve switched to Japanese for the first time in my life because maybeBaachan’sspirits will help me.
“Remember… superpower.”
The world is even blurrier.
What is he saying?
He’s not making sense.
Superpower.
Hide the body.
Six hours.
“Christian, please, please don’t do this—”
‘Don't… tell anyone,’ his last words are barely a whisper before his heart stops beating.
And I think mine does too.
My thoughts are mute.
The world is quiet.
Christian isn’t breathing.
