Swallowing the pain, Bjørn gently kissed Isis, his lips lingering for a moment on hers. Then, his gaze lifted to Natasha’s with a determined gleam. “I will heal her.”
Tensing in our arms, Natasha gasped. “Really?”
He nodded. “My Fae nature is stronger than anything else.” Copper-colored power immediately flowed out of the hand that held Isis’s and into her body. His other hand carefully rested above the gaping wound, sending pure, ethereal energy into her.
A new sense of hope rushed into all of us. My lungs filled with a sense of relief, and I pulled Natasha to me, kissing the top of her head.
Several minutes passed, but everyone remained silent while Bjørn used his Fae power to heal the woman he loved. Love poured out of him almost as strongly as his energy.
Isis suddenly inhaled a full breath, oxygen finally filling her lungs, and everyone began to celebrate behind us.
Natasha looked up at André and me, grinning as she wiped her face.
Isis blinked, trying to hold her bearings while strength returned to her, and lifted his hand from her stomach, looking at herself.
“Don’t get up,” Bjørn warned, his healing still pouring into her as he stopped her. There was still a very serious injury on her torso, but I could no longer see through it. His pure energy had stitched together most of it.
Closing her eyes, she focused on taking slow, deep breaths, helping herself become more stable.
“I love you,” Isis finally whispered, holding Bjørn’s gaze steadily and squeezing his hand.
The look of adoration he gave her was humbling.
A small tremor called my attention to his body, and I noticed the energy no longer flowed smoothly from him.
It had started sputtering, diminishing, until it stopped.
“Is he done healing her?”Natasha asked into our shadow link, noticing the same thing.
I couldn’t answer, I didn’t know.
Leaning over Isis, Bjørn caressed the side of her face with his fingers, claiming her lips softly, this time more meaningfully. “I love you,” he whispered.
My heart stopped beating when his hand began to disintegrate into shimmering gold ash.
“Bjørn!” Natasha gasped.
André looked at me horrified. “Bjørn!” he called too but received no answer.
“No…” Isis sobbed, trying to touch him but his arm became golden ash too, swirling out of her reach.
The vanishing continued toward his chest.
Bjørn hadn’t healed the woman he loved; he’d willingly given all of his life force to her.
“Shh, Luv. It’s okay,” he soothed her, his body glowing under the sun as it slowly broke apart.
“Don’t do this,” Natasha begged, sobbing.
“Don’t cry, Dearie.” Bjørn smiled lovingly at her. “I have lived two thousand years, and I will live a thousand more…in your hearts.”
He winked at us as a magical wind swept over the desert, turning the rest of him to shimmering golden ash. The breeze lifted his ashes to the sky, taking him with it into the Ether.
“No!” the desperate cry left Isis’s throat, turning into broken sobs while she remained on the ground, unable to move from her weakness and the pain ripping through her at losing him.
“Thank you for all the memories, Bjørn…”I sent toward him, even though he could no longer hear me, letting my tears fall in his honor.
Natasha whirled into my chest, clinging to me when ragged cries tore through her too. I held her to me tightly, feeling André pull us into his arms too.
