“You called.” His voice was soft, almost too quiet. He blinked heavily, because of the dust in his eyes or something else, I wasn’t sure. “I came.”
The second my hands grasped for him, Hector’s body folded into itself. He crumpled to the floor, bringing me down with him. I’d hoped it was from relief of being reunited. I was wrong. So very wrong.
It was up close when I saw the blood spreading like a black lake across his stomach. How his pale hands shook as he clutched at the gaping wound. The colour that flooded his cheeks draining like a fresh painting left out in the rain.
“No,” I spluttered, unsure what to do with my hands. “No, no, no.”
Hector’s skin was sticky, and as white as a sheet. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and his hair smelled of charred flesh and fire. I searched for more wounds, but it was pointless. There was only one that mattered, and it was the open hole in his gut.
“Help me,” I whispered, watching the light leave his eyes. Hector’s stare became distant as he looked at me, as if he was searching for something lost far behind where I knelt. “Someone help me! Help! Now! I need a healer.”
Witches rushed around me. The dust settled. And Hector loosed a breath, harsh and gargled, which would be his last. It wasn’t like in the movies, or the books I used to read. Death wasn’t slow and steady, giving time for goodbyes and grief. It was sudden. Over in a blink.
Hector Briar died in my arms, blood spilling out until it began to create rivers amongst the ruined gateway.
I leaned my forehead against his cold one, tears rolling down my face and splashing onto his skin. To anyone else it would look like he too cried, but I knew he was beyond that now. I felt no pulse, no brush of breath against my cheek as I pressed my mouth to his unresponsive one.
Helpless. Once again, that was exactly what I was.
Except, I refused it. I called upon every tool in my arsenal, magic and mortal means, and used it. I blew air into his mouth,hoping to fill his still lungs. I pushed at his chest, giving him compressions in hopes that I’d feel his heart splutter back to its normal canter.
They tried to stop me. It was useless as I growled at them, like a lion over its young.
I called upon magic, old magic…greatmagic, and used it in every sense I could think of.
“You’re not leaving me,” I said between compressions, fixing my furious gaze down upon Hector’s sweet, peaceful face. “You’re not fucking leaving me! Do you hear me, Hector Briar. Do you? Fight. Come back to me… I’ll call for you again, and you better listen. Please, listen. Please, just don’t go…”
49
HECTOR
“Hello, my darling boy.”
I opened my eyes to find myself staring up at a face I’d almost forgotten. It was haloed in a bright light, so bright that the edges blurred and wavered like an unfair illusion.
“Mum?” I gasped.
It can’t be.
But itwasher. Flesh, bone and blood. Her.
My mother’s soft smile blossomed as she sighed, dark hair spilling over her face. It had been years since I’d last seen it and yet it felt like only yesterday when I was lucky enough to witness it. “Yes, of course it’s me. And my, haven’t you been busy. I didn’t except to see you so soon, or I’d hoped that would’ve been the case.”
There was an undeniable edge of pain to her voice. It got me sitting up, which was strange because I had no concept of where the floors met the walls, or the walls met the ceiling.
“I’m dead, aren’t I?” I asked, finding myself searching for someone beyond her shoulder, although I couldn’t place who. “Like you.”
“Yes, and no.” Heather Briar rocked backwards to give me space, her youthful gaze not leaving me for a second. “This is a crossroads, Hector. A place where the roads meet between the living and the dead. In other news, my darling boy, it is a place of choices.”
I squinted into the bright expanse, trying to make sense of what she’d just said, but nothing was working. When a thought entered my mind, it filtered away like sand through open fingers.
“I don’t understand,” I said, fixing my gaze back on her as my hands fumbled for a wound on my stomach. The search was fruitless, because my skin was smooth and without mark. “I—I was just with…”
Arwyn. His name was lightning, coming sudden and hot. I sagged forwards, as though a comet had just crashed into my chest, the pain of it too much to handle.
“Now, now,” my mother cooed, drawing me into a hug. “It’s okay, Hector. I have got you. We still have some time together…”
I’d forgotten, over the years without her, just how it felt to be in her arms. The smell of lavender and citrus that clung to her thick hair. I took it all in, pushing my emotions to the side to simply enjoy the one thing I’d craved every day and night. I was so distracted by it that I almost missed what she’d just said.
