Cold enough to freeze.
Snowflakes spread out from her, decorating the churning water with a delicate web, cocooning her in the centre. The air spiralled above her with a mini snowstorm, trapping her in a coffin made of ice.
Smashing my elbow through the thickening frost, I snatched her. The second my hand locked around her wrist,everythingstopped.
Something aligned.
Something locked.
Pure euphoria and absolute terror tangled together, bursting out of my chest.
I couldn’t explain how she affected me. Didn’t have the words. All I could think of was...finally.
Finally.
Finally, I’d found her. Found who I was meant to find. Found what I’d been missing...ever since I’d been born.
Shuddering, I dragged her into my arms. The ice that’d formed around her vanished instantly. Pushing tangled hair off her face, I tapped her cheek. She refused to wake up. Her skin was deathly pale. Lips blue. Eyes half-lidded and empty.
“Rook—” I shook her as that impossible connection between us threatened to disappear just as suddenly as it’d begun. Hauling her against me, I swam for shore.
I didn’t stop until I’d dragged her onto the leaf-littered earth. She lay boneless and barely breathing as I pressed my ear to her mouth, my cheek to her chest.
The faintest heartbeat—
Instinct took over.
“Breathe.” Gripping her shoulders, I shook her, only to watch her head bounce like a broken toy. Letting her go, I sank my teeth into my mangled wrist.
Strange gold-tinted blood welled.
A droplet landed on the bracken, sizzling instantly with smoke.
I froze.
I’d drawn enough of my blood to know that wasn’t normal. I’d spent my life believing Marcus harvested as much as he did because it had the power to heal but...what if it was the opposite? What if it had changed? What if I made her worse?
That bond between us went scarily silent, making the decision for me.
Pressing my wrist to her mouth, I cradled her head and begged, “Rook, open your eyes and swallow. Youhaveto swallow.”
She didn’t obey, and I lost myself.
Bringing my wrist to my own mouth, I sucked as much as I could. Folding over her, I pressed my lips to hers and transferred the metallic mouthful, only for it to dribble down her chin.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please, don’t do this.”
Frost feathered out from her unconscious form, flash-freezing the rotten leaves beneath.
A surge of fire erupted from me, washing over her like a blast of summer. The ice instantly melted and...she moaned.
My heart hitched violently.
Dragging her into my lap, I ignored my cracked and bleeding hands as I shifted her enough to be able to hover my mouth over hers.
Ifelther.
Felt the faintest tickle of her life-force brushing mine, dimming, slipping—
