She yanked it out, and he howled up at the sky.
Tears blurred her vision, but she immediately pressed her palms to the deep gash from the axe that was spurting blood. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she said. “I’ll fix you.”
Vade’s head lolled to the side.
“Stay with me,” she begged. “Stay with me!”
He blinked slowly, like he was trying to see her.
Orelia sobbed as she worked, letting her light come forth.Hurry hurry hurry.
“Orelia.”
She couldn’t bear the finality in his voice. “You aren’t dying on me.”
Blood pumped out of the gash, so much so that she couldn’t see if his wound was closing. Orelia kept her hands pressed firmly, sending a prayer to every god to save him.
Trembling fingers found her cheek. “It’s too much . . .poison . . .” Red lines had begun to creep into the whites of his eyes.
“No! I’ll heal you. It’ll all be okay.” Finally, part of the gash sealed, and she moved her hands to cover the rest.
Vade’s eyes closed. His chest rose and fell in slower motions.
“Don’t give up on me,” she pleaded. She glanced at his wings, wondering how in the hells she was going to have time to heal all the tears.
When she looked back at Vade, his chest was barely moving. Orelia shook him. “Stay awake!”
His eyes rolled back in his head, but he managed to look at her for a few seconds. A small smile grew on his face. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped. Vade made a garbled sound and coughed up globs of blood. “I should have told you every day.”
Orelia shook from her cries. She willed her light to come forth faster, stronger, not knowing if it would work.
“I never told you how stunning you looked in that dress in Ravere.”
“Don’t do this. Don’t start talking to me like this is the end.” She wiped away her tears with her shoulder, not taking her hands off his wound.
“Or how you taking care of Bute was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen.” He spoke far too calmly for being on the edge of death.
She smiled through a sob.
Vade locked his wilting eyes onto hers. He reached up and cupped her cheek. Orelia leaned into him, trembling with him.
“Now I know why I survived falling off the mountain.” Blood trickled out of his half smiling mouth. “It was so I could know your love. No matter how short-lived the feeling was, it was worth it.” He coughed. “Youwere worth it.”
Her face crumbled.
His chest still leaked blood, his wings were too ruined, and from the paleness of his face, she knew he didn’t have long. Not even her healing could work against time, not with how much poison was in his blood. But she wouldn’t stop trying.
Vade gave her a bloody smile. “I love you.”
Orelia choked back her tears. “I love you, too, but you aren’t dying today.” The last part of his chest wound sealed, and she moved on to his left wing.
She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing entirely on her gift. She could feel the tears healing beneath her hands, moving more quickly, but not fast enough. Orelia panted, never having used this much of her power before.
He coughed again, and an idea came to her. She used her summoning power to pull every item from his pack. She laid them out, searching. “Where is the rest of your sana?”
Vade’s eyes fluttered. “Used it . . .all. On you.”
Panicking, she used her power to sift through his pack again but found nothing.
