‘You’re free, Clara,’ he whispered.
‘No,’ I cried.‘You can’t leave me like this.I chose you.I stayed by choice.’I could barely make out his face through my tears.‘I love you.’
He moved his lips as though he were speaking, but no sound came out.His eyes lost focus.
‘Stay awake,’ I commanded.He wasn’t going to last until Moira got here.And even if he did, what could she do?She was a vampire hunter, not a bloody surgeon.I couldn’t lose him.There had to be something I could do.My hands shook over his wound.I didn’t dare touch it, but if I didn’t, he’d die.‘I don’t know how to save you,’ I choked.
He was slipping.His eyelids fluttered, straining at the effort just to keep them open.His hand slid down my cheek, thumb trailing across my lip until his flesh grazed the very tip of my fang.‘You do,’ he whispered, as his hand fell limp.
My chest tightened.‘What do you mean?’I cried.He didn’t respond.His lips were still wavering, but I couldn’t tell if he was trying to speak or if it was simply the final twitching of muscles trying to stay alive.Another sob spilled out of me.He had to live, he wanted to live.He’d said it himself when—
I froze.
He was right.Ididknow what to do.
Was that really what he’d meant?After all this time, Raleigh had found his freedom.I could save him, but the cost would be everything he had fought for.If he died, I would be mortal again.If I saved him, there would be no turning back.Neither of us had sires we could kill.I would be forcing him into the same eternity we’d spent all year fighting.Could I really force that back upon him?
He’d agreed with me before, though, hadn’t he?That he wanted to live no matter what.Surely those last words could only have meant one thing, but would he ever forgive me if I was wrong?
Did I care?I could live with him hating me.I couldn’t live in a world without him.
‘Forgive me,’ I choked out.And bit down on his throat.
His blood rushed into my mouth.It was nothing like drinking the vial.He was intoxicatingly sweet, like nothing I’d ever tasted.
It took all my remaining strength to stop before I killed him myself.
Stay alive,I silently pleaded as I pulled away.He had closed his eyes.Was he still breathing?I couldn’t tell.The world was so loud, the noises all melded into one.He had to be alive.
Without hesitation, I bit my own wrist and drew my own blood into my mouth.I tasted foul compared to Raleigh, but I wasn’t the one who had to drink.I pressed our lips together and forced the blood into Raleigh’s waiting lips, tilting his head to allow the blood to pour down his throat.
Please work.
Please don’t be too late.
He lay deathly still.What little colour had come back in life had drained away once more.I pressed my fingers to his throat, searching for a pulse, then tore my glove off and tried again.Maybe it was the wrong spot.Maybe if I …
I pressed my ear to his chest.His still, silent chest.My body convulsed, panic clawing.I told myself to breathe but I couldn’t remember how.It wasn’t helping, nothing was helping and Raleigh …
Raleigh.
‘Don’t leave me,’ I sobbed, clutching at his blood-sodden clothes.‘Open your eyes, you idiot prince.She’s dead.You’re free.You can’t die before you get to live.’
There was no reply.Of course there’d be no reply.
I collapsed on top of him, holding him as I wished I’d had the chance to in life.How many times had I longed to lie like this with him, my head on his chest, my arms around him?Why had I never done this before?Why had I waited until he was already dead?
I don’t know how long I lay there with him, sobbing into his unmoving chest.I was terrified of the sight that might await me when I moved.Of Raleigh’s face, sunken and waxy in a death so much more permanent than the one he had lived for centuries.I’d have to move eventually.The thirst I’d been forcing myself to ignore was only intensifying, burning harsh as sunlight from the pooling life around me.But as long as I lay there, it wouldn’t be real.I could pretend he was still here.
‘You were supposed to marry me,’ I whispered, defeated.
‘Is that a proposal?’
I scrambled upwards, tearing myself off him.Raleigh had peeled his eyes half open.They were still glazed in pain, his flesh unmarred by the blush of life.But he was moving.
‘You’re alive,’ I choked.
‘Alive is … a strong word.’A flash of fang glistened past his lips.A strange sensation washed over me: a need to protect him, to possess him, to obey him, to command him.And I could see the conflict of emotion wash through him too.‘I don’t understand.How did you …?’
