My eyes travel over Milo, the messy wound on his belly, the blood and torn skin, the bits of organ showing, and worst of all—the clear resignation on his face. He’s tired of fighting each breath. I dare a hand on Eli’s shoulder, and when he only flinches, I rub my fingertips over his tense muscles, choosing my words with care and trying to remain steady through the pain all over. “Maybe he needs a distraction.”
His jaw twitches, drawing my attention away from the bulging vein in his forehead. Shallow breaths claim his body. He turns his head slowly, his dark eyes reaching mine, a threat in them that if this moment continues as it is, he will fall apart. “Heneedsto live.”
Atom snuggles in next to Milo, picking up his long, slender arm and draping it over his small shoulders. He pats Milo’s chest. “I’m sorry I failed.”
“You didn’t do this.” I poke his foot to get him to look at me.
His face crumples. “I didn’t stop it.” He draws his knees into his chest and curls over them.
“Hurry up, Kelter!” Kaleida yells, then drops her voice to a mutter. “How hard is it to rip out a dead man’s heart?”
“That was his father. Give him a second,” I say. One look at Kelter and I know he’s struggling, his heart heavy with guilt. He hangs his head, crouching with one hand on his father’s chest.
Eli closes his eyes, collecting patience he’s already used up, and opens them again in a flash of dark brown. “I need the essence. I can’t wait anymore.”
“It’ll be yours soon.” Kaleida rests a soothing hand on his knee.
“Idon’t want it.” Eli presses a fist to his temple, controlling breath after breath.
“What?” I ask. It comes out like a puff of air, soft and quiet.
His eyes travel sideways, his forehead creased in anguish. “I’m giving it to Milo.”
“We don’t even know if that will save him,” Kaleida hisses, as if Milo weren’t a foot away from her.
Eli swallows tightly. “I don’t care.”
I grip his arm and whisper, “And the voices in your head?”
“They stay.” I can’t hear anything else but Eli, not while the room spins and the walls waver, not with the way he grabs my face and forces me to look at him. And words fall from his lips so smoothly it’s as if they’d always been there, waiting. “Every version of me is in love with you. That’s all that matters right now.”
Love. My body goes numb, my heart the only part still functional, but even now I feel the grip he has on it, preventing my true reaction.
“We’ll find a way.” I touch his face, those perfect cheek bones, but he pulls away.
“Where the fuck is his essence?” Eli yells, flipping around. “Cut open his heart and get on with it!”
I turn toward Kelter, my mind sliding image after image into place, trying to comprehend the sight before me.
Zandrite is no more than a mound of flesh at his side, lucky to still have bones and blood. Kelter holds a glowing light with a liquid center, about the size of a fist and shaped like a figure eight, twisting and twirling.Zandrite’s essence.
And the color. It’s that of my eyes. I stare, mesmerized by its movements, the familiar indigo, the energy pulsing through the room. Kelter captures the light in his hands and shoves it against his chest. His hands smash flat. His head and shoulders jerk back.
The light spreads under his skin, his body absorbing the essence. His chest illuminates, his impression dark and vivid on the light backdrop. The circles rearrange, unlinking and relinking over and over until the image is new. Until a jagged heart made of broken pieces sits on his chest. My own impression tingles and tugs in every direction inside my shirt, rearranging to match his. Relief floods his eyes, but it’simpossible not to see the confliction etched across his forehead and an immeasurable anguish that parallels Eli’s.
Only seconds pass before Zandrite’s body poofs into dust. It hangs in the air, black and gold particles swirling about, then draws together. The particles fuse, building on one another in dense layers until all that’s left is a black stone. It drops to the ground.
Chapter 60
EVER
Death stone,” Kaleida whispers.
But a whisper is the last thing I’m capable of. “Kelter, you fuck-hole!”
Kelter stares down at his father’s open chest. “I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was losing my mind.”
“What in the fuck?” Eli bellows. “You used his entire essence for yourself?”
