The room is quiet.
It takes me a moment to realize… Emil is quiet, too.
I try to see his face, suddenly aware of how heavy his head has become where it rests on my shoulder.
“Emil?” I press my hand to his cheek. “Keeper?”
My eyes widen when he slides slowly forward, and it takes all of my strength to hold on to him.
“Keeper!”
His head tips back. His eyes are closed and his breath no longer frosts the air.
No.
“No,” I cry. “You can’t be gone! You owe me revenge.Keeper!”
My scream tears the air around me, but he doesn’t respond.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Fury floods me, and with it, my claws sharpen and my voice becomes a growl.
My back aches with the painful, prickling sensation that precedes the appearance of my wings.
I grip the keeper, one hand tangled in his bloody hair, trying to keep his head from falling to the floor, my other arm holding his torso to my chest as hard as I can.
“Do you think you can simply slip away from me?” I snarl into the silence, my lips near his ear. “Do you think it’s as easy as allowing yourself to fade into nothing?”
My voice rises. “Youoweme, keeper. Do you think a broken heart changes that?”
The weight of his body only increases and the amount of blood seeping from his wounds makes his torso slippery.
“Do you hear me?” I scream at him. Hot tears slip down my cheeks. “I’m not done with you.” My voice lowers to a whisper. “Not by a long shot.”
I press my lips to his cold cheek and my claws into his side, and I snarl at him. “Nowbreathe.”
His gasp sounds at my ear. A rattled breath. But he doesn’t speak and his exhalation dies down, the softest sound in the silence.
For a moment, I think it was simply a final expulsion of air from his chest, but when I press my cheek to his, I feel the quiet movement of air.
Cold air.
He’s still freezing.
And unconscious.
“I’m going to get you warm,” I say, my voice strangled as I speak with him, as though he can hear me. “I’m going to keep you alive. Not because I care about you, or because I want you, but because I meant what I said: I’m not done with you.”
My snarl fades as I hold him closer.
I’m not done with him.
Taking a shaky breath, I keep hold of his head and lower him carefully to the floor so I can adjust my position. Hooking my arms under his armpits and around his chest, I call on my strength and drag him toward the opaque opening.
A cry leaves my lips as I breach the energy that’s keeping the room separated from the corridor outside. “Help!”
My pack is right where I left them all, although Halle and her hellhound are now standing farther away on my left.
