Blaéz jerked up, his feet crashing to the floor. Her eyelids blinked open. Her eyes no longer resembled the hues of a sunflower. They’d faded almost to a flat brown. Her mouth curved in a smile that made his heart bleed. He couldn’t speak, stark pain choking him. She struggled to sit. He helped her up, stacking another pillow behind her.
“Blaéz!” She expelled a sharp breath and pushed away from him, her anxious gaze darting over him. He glanced down at the ruined, plasma-drenched, buttonless shirt he still wore.
“I’m fine,” he reassured her.
Apparently unconvinced, she reached out and rubbed his chest. She was probably wiping away dirt and blood, but her touch had him on edge. The urge to hold her, kiss her and make love to her, to reassure himself she lived swamped him. But he didn’t dare not with her looking so wan. Biting back a groan, he grasped her hand and stopped her.
“How…how did I end up here? I remember leaving the party…” She frowned, as if trying to recall.
Blaéz had to clamp back on his anguish. She didn’t even know her heart had stopped beating. It cost him so damn much to pretend, to let the corners of his mouth curve up. “You needed a nap, it seems.”
* * *
Darci gave Blaéz a skeptical look as she searched his tight, handsome face. Overnight stubble shadowed his jaw. The smile on his lips didn’t touch his eyes. He looked a mess. His black shirt had numerous slashes. Dried blood smeared his chest and arms, but he was unwounded, for which she was grateful.
“Another demonii fight?” she asked. She really hated when he got hurt while on patrol.
“Something like that.”
With a weary sigh, she pushed the covers aside, slid off the bed, and stumbled. Blaéz grasped her arm, steadying her.
She felt so weak. Her limbs unsteady like she’d binge-drank through the night. Ugh, her mouth tasted awful, too. At his anxious expression, she patted his bare chest. Smiled. “I’m okay. I need the bathroom.”
He picked her up and carried her. “Blaéz,” she grumbled. “I can walk.”
Ignoring her protest, he strode into the bathroom and set her down. When he just stood there, she rolled her eyes. “I’ll call when I’m done, okay?”
With some reluctance, he left. Shutting the door, she used the facilities then brushed her teeth and washed her face. At the sight of her pallid reflection in the mirror above the basin, Darci groaned. Her hair looked like a bird would be happy nesting there. As she tried to untangle it, her gaze lowered to her eyes. She frowned. The hazel colors were so muted, they appeared dull, lifeless…
Her pulse roared in her ears, and everything that happened after they’d left the party last night crashed into her mind like a deafening rockslide.
“Oh, God—oh, dear God!”She grabbed the edge of the counter.
The door flew open. Blaéz was at her side in a heartbeat. He swept her off her wobbly feet. “What is it?”
“I remember.” Her arms tightened around his neck, so afraid to let go as he walked back into the room, afraid she’d never find him again. “I heard you—youbrought me back.”
He sat on the bed, keeping her on his lap. “I couldn’t lose you, Darci—I just couldn’t.”
At the naked grief in his voice, she pressed her lips to his unshaven jaw and tried to suppress the tears that weren’t far off. But a tiny sob leaked out. “I guess we were never meant to have a life together, were we?”
Those wild blue eyes held hers, edged with untold torment. “If I hadn’t opened that damn portal—”
“No.” She placed her hand on his lips. “It’s not your fault.”
He kissed her fingers then pulled them away. “Why? It’s the truth. I’m a goddamn warrior. My first duty is to protect, and I did a brilliant job of that. I opened a fucking portal with you so close that you had to give your life to save me!”
“You didn’t know what you were doing. Nora…” She swallowed, still hurting at her friend’s duplicity. “Nora put that potion in your whiskey, the one I brought to you. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine for being so easily deceived.”
“She’s a demoness,a leannan. She covers her tracks well. ButIshould have known when I saw her with you—”
“Blaéz,” she cut him off, eyes widening as something else registered. “She—Nora said Maloch trapped you by binding the lingering essence your soul left behind with a spell to their blood moon. It’s how you were summoned, but it was weakening. It’s why he was desperate to find your soul first.”
“It no longer matters, he’s dead. But I want to kill the bastard all over again for what he did to you.”
“Please, let’s not talk about them.”
A moment, then two passed before he spoke. “All right.”
