Lucien’s mouth crushed mine, his tongue licking me deep.
I licked him back.
If thiswasmy fault. If the same scientists who’d worked alongside my parents had had something to do with harming him—
Frigid energy sheared through my nerves, flash-freezing my thoughts until they shattered. Pain detonated behind my eyes, bright and blinding, like staring at snow under a blazing sun.
Lucien kissed me again—slower this time, deeper—almost as if he could sense me slipping. His lips lingered, stealing what little I had left.
I whimpered against his mouth.
I wanted to help him with every fibre of my being, but...I wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer.
Everything was too much.
He was too much.
He waseverything.
And I couldn’t stop him.
Couldn’t save him.
I hated myself.
I tasted smoke as he erupted with unbearable heat, his hands clawing at my hair, his own pain making him wild. I pressed my palms flat against his chest. His heat was petrifying.
Iciness billowed through me, answering him—
He coughed again, wet and racking.
He turned his head to spit fresh blood onto the floor but—
I grabbed his cheeks and kissed him.
I forced him to give me the only painkiller that worked—begging him to help me so I could help find a way to help him.
A primal roar grumbled in his chest as I swallowed his coppery-ashy taste.
I wished he would give me more. To keep me awake. To stop my pain.
My heart clawed against my ribs as I poured everything I had into the kiss—willing that strange iciness to rise, for those icicles and snowstorms to gather andhelphim.
As if it’d been waiting for me to ask, chilliness shot through me, too cold, too fast, toomuch.My vision swam as polar winds screamed through my veins, freezing my blood and stabbing me with arctic daggers.
I broke the kiss with a strangled gasp.
Air wouldn’t come.
I-I can’t breathe—
Can’t breathe!
Scrambling on my heels and hands, I tried to escape his imprisonment.
But Lucien followed me, his mouth finding mine again and kissing me exquisitely hard.
He kissed me as if he was moments away from death and I did my best not to die with him.
