My fingers latch onto his forearm. I heave with everything I have. It’s barely enough.
When he collapses on the floor next to me, my strength abandons me. I hear him cough, but I can’t see at all anymore.
I choke on a sob. The jerky trip up the stairs. How something felt off about Alistair’s vampire speed. I should have known it was Riven. My father did. That’s why he said all that stuff. Why didn’t I realize it sooner?
I’ve blasted the person in this universe least equipped to survive my truth, and I didn’t even get a chance to tell him I love him.
I try to tell him now, but I can’t feel my lips anymore. This body has given me everything, but I’ve taken more than it has to offer. The only muscle still under my command is the one stubbornly beating inside my chest.
Is Riven dead? Did I kill him?I’m not sure I’ll live to find out, and maybe that’s for the best.
Someone grabs me. They force my mouth open and pour something inside. I can’t taste it. Can’t swallow. Hands massage my throat, forcing the atrophied muscles to work. Pins and needles roll through each of my limbs, and I choke on a scream.
My stubborn heart is giving out; except it’s not fighting alone.
Luca’s bond coils around it, forcing it to pump and pushing the poison back.
Black eyes. Hazel ones. Gentle hands that tremble violently as they wrap around me. The glint of fangs as Ali pulls the vial away from my lips.
It won’t be enough. I’m just glad I got tobe with them one last time. I hope they can forgive me for dying. If the situation were reversed, I’m not sure I’d be able to.
My vision flutters in and out before everything goes black. Then I’m alone in the dark recesses of my own mind. I peer inside the open vault. It isn’t as scary now that it’s empty. All the memories, good and bad, have been sorted into their proper boxes.
My final mess, all cleaned up. If I could smile, I would.
Will I slip into the eternal beyond now? If it exists, I’ll get to see my mom again.
Maybe whatever lies ahead of us will be kinder than what came before.
“Someday, you’ll see me again, but today is not that day.”
Her voice is soft and melodic. I want to get closer to it, but my leg is killing me.Fuck, shouldn’t I be given a new body in the afterlife?This one is beat to shit.
“Rest, Celine. You have life left to live. I don’t want you to waste a second of it.”
I look for her, searching for Mom’s face in the dark, but I can’t sense her anymore. My fingers twitch. Sharp pain explodes in my chest, and I’m blinded by a burst of light that erases everything else.
FIFTY-THREE
Unspoken Rule of the Fringes #64:
Caring leaves you vulnerable.
LUCA
Everywhere I turn, there’s carnage.
Celine is barely breathing. Riven’s face is streaming blood from every orifice, and the chaos in the courtyard is loud enough to wake the dead.
Her ribbon of light is weak, fluttering sporadically in my chest.It’s still there, though. She’s not gone.I’m clinging to control by the skin of my fangs. If we lose her, my basilisk will turn this whole realm to stone, and I fear I’ll do nothing to stop him.
“Come on, breathe, dammit!” Ciprian’s doing chest compressions on Riven. His black eyes are wild, but he never loses his rhythm or his focus.
“Stay with him,” I mutter.
“Don’t lose her,” Ciprian tosses back, his voice cracking before he pinches Riven’s nose and bends to administer mouth-to-mouth.
Another thirty chest compressions. Another shared puff of air. I watch from the corner of my eye, skin crawling at the sheer volume of blood on Riven’s face. It’s smeared on Ciprian’s chin and cheeks from the CPR, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
