“She broke from the tree. She cannot reattach and the tree will no longer live.”
Orion pulled Nina’s body onto his lap and held her close to his chest. She didn’t stir. She barely breathed and for the first time since he was a boy, sobs choked on tears.
He had caused this. She had tried to leave because of him, and now she was near death.
Twenty-Six
It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Orion had found Nina in the orchard, and she still had not awakened. It was as if she were in a deep sleep, her breathing light, and impossible to wake.
Orion had not left her side, nor had Cassian. Were they waiting for her to die, or finally live?
He had tried to wake her, as had Cassian and his mother, but Nina lingered.
She’d been given a chamber, settled into a bed, and they did what they could to make her comfortable.
Cassian paced, and Orion hadn’t moved from the chair beside the bed.
Nina’s finger twitched on the hand that he held.
Orion’s heart sped and he sat forward, watching her face.
First her eyelids fluttered, then she opened her eyes.
“Nina! Can you hear me?”
Cassian rushed to the other side of the bed.
She didn’t move, but her eyes shifted, taking in the room.
“Where am I?” she whispered.
“In a chamber in Nightshade Manor.”
“How?”
“I found you in the orchard. You were unconscious.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I went too far.”
“Too far?” Cassian asked.
“I wanted to see how far I could go. Then there was pain, and my body grew weak. I tried to crawl back.”
“Were you trying to break away from the tree?” Cassian asked.
Nina frowned. “No. I am not ready to die.”
Orion blew out a breath. He didn’t want to truly acknowledge that she had done this to herself on purpose, knowing what they all thought the likely outcome could be. She just went too far.
“How come I am here and not in the grove?”
Cassian picked up her other hand. “Your tree is dead, Nina.”
She stared at him in wonderment. “Dead?”
Her brother nodded.
“I am not?”
