He was fading.
Cova crouched next to me, placing one hand on my shoulder and gripping Dommik’s sword in the other.
“No. I can’t. I won’t!” I frantically stroked his face as tears streamed down mine. Dommik winced as he reached up to wipe away the evidence of my distress. I looked at Oddo. “I can save him. I’ve done it before.”
The Master of Archives leveled me with a serious glare. “No. It would take too much blood to revive him.
“How much?” I cried.
“A fatal amount.”
Quicker than anyone could react, I lifted Cova’s arm, placed my wrist under the blade and ran its teeth over my flesh. The small band of remaining Southern Hive vampires jumped back, hissing as the red liquid fountained and spilled to the ground.
Cova scolded me with colorful curses but I was too busy placing the open wound to Dommik’s mouth and encouraging him to drink to hear what she said.
At first, the liquid fell down his cheeks. The wasted, dripping liquid stained my already ruined gown. It was like reliving the memory from when we first met, and the scene repeated as Dommik gripped me, holding my wrist in place, and began to drink.
I exhaled in relief and smiled to myself. This was going to work.
Oddo nervously spoke from his place a few feet away. “Uh, Lady Cova. Something urgent requires your attention.”
My sister and I turned our heads in unison. The small battalion of shades were grouped and hovering some distance away. Their eyes fixed on my wrist and the life force Dommik drew from it.
“I’ll be right back,” Cova assured me. “Be careful.”
“I will,” I breathed. But I already knew in my heart that I would let this go too far if it meant saving him.
This wasn’t like when Eryx drank from me. Dommik had my full permission. If it meant he could live and carry on Rhazien’s work, he could drain me. Death could finally claim me and end its months-long hunt. At least now, my death would mean something.
Dommik’s cuts began to close and bruises started to fade. His color returned as his body healed and spots blinked into the corner of my vision.
Good.This was a good thing.
I didn’t pull away, scold him, or tell him to stop when he lifted his second hand to my wrist. His stormy eyes were open now and fixed up at me. They were conflicted. Hungry but apologetic.
I smiled down at him and stroked his hair as I whispered, “It’s okay.”
He breathed through his nose as the blood rushed faster from my veins into him. Panic lacing the storm in his eyes.
“He needs to stop!” Gorvin’s concerned words were garbled and distant.
“It’s okay,” I said again as stars blotted my vision. My heartbeat faded to a slow, laboring thud. Without Dommik, my heart would be useless anyway. He was my heart.
My body swayed and before I lost consciousness, I whispered, “I love you, Dommik.”
Chapter 44
Second Chances
Ifloated somewhere between dreaming and death, my mind searching for an anchor. The darkness cradled me without consequence, like it was holding space to see if my soul would choose to be born again.
Ethereal sounds echoed in my abyss and slowly took form. What were undefined chimes and tunes transformed, firming into words I could understand.
The voices reached out to me. Calling my name, begging me to come back. Like when I would fall into a vision and leave a concerned onlooker back with my physical body. But I wasn’t in control. This wasn’t a vision I could willingly exit.
I lingered, stuck in this state until I heardhim.
“Hello, lovely.”
