“No—no, no, no,no?—”
The word spilled out of her in a loop, a denial, a plea to gods that had never once listened. Her hands pressed against the wound, trying to stem the flood, but the blood kept coming, hot and dark, painting her fingers, her wrists, soaking into the fabric of her sleeves.
“Stay with me,” Shaelith sobbed, her voice cracking, splintering into something unrecognizable. “Stay with me,please?—”
Brynelle’s lips parted.
A thin, wet sound escaped her throat, the ghost of breath struggling to shape itself into meaning.
Her hand lifted.
Shaelith grabbed it instantly, pressing it to her chest, her cheek, her lips, like she could anchor Brynelle to this world through touch alone.
“I’m here,” she choked out, tears streaming down her face, her whole body wracked with sobs. “I’m right here, love, I’mright here?—”
Brynelle’s fingers twitched against Shaelith’s jaw.
So gentle.
So impossibly gentle.
Shaelith bent low, pressing her forehead to Brynelle’s, her tears falling fast onto bloodless skin.
“Don’t,” she whispered, stripped down to nothing but raw need. “Don’t youdare.”
And then she kissed her.
Like she could breathe life back into her. Like love alone could be enough to drag someone back from the edge of the abyss.
Her lips moved against Brynelle’s and when she pulled back just enough to speak, the words came out broken.
“Stay,” Shaelith begged. “Please, gods,please—I can’t—I can’t do this without you, I can’t?—”
Brynelle’s hand went slack against her cheek.
The smallest shift.
Shaelith felt it.
“No—no—” She kissed Brynelle again, harder this time, as if she could pour her own heartbeat into Brynelle’s chest, as if sheer desperation could rewrite the laws of mortality. “Come back, come back,come back?—”
But Brynelle’s beautiful, whiskey-soft eyes, were fluttering.
Her chest rose once more. A shallow, rattling breath.
Then stillness.
Complete.
Absolute.
The air went dead.
Shaelith froze, her lips pressed to Brynelle’s, her whole body suspended in the moment before understanding crashed down.
And then?—
She screamed.
