“Stay with me, Storm. I will not survive without you.” I paused and waited for her to open those pretty eyes. “I love you. Wearen’t ever being separated again. It will kill me if I ever have to be away from you for that long. You have crawled under my skin, infected my bones, and poisoned my blood with a need for you that will kill me if you leave me. Without you, I am nothing.
“I have loved you from the moment you first spoke to me. I loved you when I said I didn’t. I will love you for our whole existence, and even that does not seem like enough time with you. You gave me everything the day that you found me—you gave me love, purpose, and a home. I did not know life could be something so wonderful until the first time you smiled at me. I will always choose you, Della, over everything.”
Tears fell from me as she still didn’t open her eyes.
“Please, Storm, open your pretty eyes for me,” I muttered. But she didn’t, and her body slowly stopped glowing.
I looked at Abe, who stared at her in worry. He put his hand to her forehead and sighed with relief.
“I think she’ll be okay.” He looked at me with a small smile.
“You think?” I stared at him. “You need to be certain, or I will tear souls from anyone I need to and give them to her,” I whispered. “Fate be damned, I will not let anything take her from me ever again.”
“She will be alright, Haden. You don’t need to do that.”
“Why isn’t she waking up?” I asked, worried.
He sighed heavily as he looked at her.
“She needs time to heal. Her body was without a soul for a long time; it is basically going through a rebirth while she is still physically here. I do not know how long she will be like this.”
I looked down at her and frowned.
“Okay, I will take her home and take care of her there.” I glanced at her. “I gave her part of my soul when we were in Hell; why didn’t she keep it?”
“She needed all seven sins’ souls to leave in Hell to close it. She couldn’t keep it without being stuck down there.”
That made sense. I swallowed hard as I scooped her up in my arms and stood. Her arm fell limply.
“Thank you all for helping me save Della.” I looked around at all the faces watching with concern. “I’m taking her home to recover.”
I wrapped my star mist around us, and it brought us back to our house. Once we got home, I changed her into one of my tunics and tucked her into our bed. Not wanting to leave her side, I pulled up a chair and sat right next to her, one hand holding hers tightly and the other sprawled out on her chest, feeling the rise and fall of her breathing.
I sighed, relieved.
As long as she was breathing, as long as this heart beat, then it meant I could breathe too.
Chapter 28
Haden
Iheard clanking downstairs when I woke up and quickly sat up in bed, glancing over to see Della still sleeping—just as she had been for weeks. I immediately placed my hand over her heart, and relief flooded me. Standing up, I slipped on some clothes and went downstairs to see who was being so damn noisy. My parents stared at me when I came into the kitchen.
“Hi, son,” they said, smiling as they continued to cook, acting like this was a perfectly normal thing to do.
“Good morning,” I said with a smile as Cassius, Thea, and Ezra walked into the kitchen too. Abe showed up a moment later. “Is there a reason you're all here today?”
“Did you not want to see us?” Ezra acted offended but gave me a playful smile.
“I love seeing you guys, but it isn’t usually all of you at once.”
Abe stepped forward and looked me in the eyes. “How is she doing? Can I see her?”
I nodded and led him up the stairs. Della was lying peacefully in the bed still.
“No movement at all?” he asked.
“No.” I frowned.
