My eyes fluttered as I slipped in and out of consciousness.
“I won’t do it,” someone said, quiet.
“Blake, we don’t have another choice. You have to—”
“Iwon’t!Not when she can’t decide.”
“She could die!” Calla shouted, her hands pulsing with energy on my skin. As if she was trying to heal me. “Nothing else is working. Not even lifebark. Please.”
Silence, and then I was falling.
No. Not falling—being carried, closer to something warm. The fireplace.
“Rubi?”
A glowing thread appeared. I followed it, pulling it like a tether between us until I blinked open my eyes to see Blake, holding me half in his lap, his hands combing through my hair gently.
“Blake?”
He smiled, but his eyes tragic. “Hey, songbird.”
“Flame?” A choked cry burst from my lips. “I can’t f-feel her—”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he cooed, gesturing with his head toward the stables. “She’s with the others. She’s still slow, coming off the drugs. Just give her a little time and you’ll be able to hear her again.”
My hands rose to my neck. I whimpered slightly as I felt the cold metal there. Blake’s face flashed with unconcealed pain.
“I know, Rubi. I’m so sorry.” He held me tighter, bending over to press a kiss to my temple. “I can’t get it off. But—but we think there might be a way.”
I knew it before he said the words.
“You want to Soul Pair.” In my head, the words sounded right. But my voice was weak enough that Blake shuddered.
He nodded, leaning closer again, his forehead touching mine.
“I think, if we were truly bound together, if I could access your magic as well as mine, I might be able to remove it. Right now, the Pairing makes us each separately stronger, but not strong enough.” He kissed me again. “I’m so sorry. This is not how I wanted our Soul Pairing to happen. I love you. I want to keep you safe.”
I shook my head, reaching for his hand. “If we do this,” I whispered, my voice trembling, “there’s no going back. If it doesn’t work and I die, so will you.”
Blake leaned in, his breath warm against my skin. “I know.” His lips grazed the edge of my jaw, a whisper of heat that sent a shiver through me.
“I can’t allow you to do that.”
His hands cupped my face, rough and shaking. “Please,” he said, voice breaking. “I’m begging you. I won’t do this without your consent, but please let me do this so we can save you. It’s the only way.”
My breath caught. I had never heard the Ambush Master pleadbefore. But what he was risking— “I can’t let you take that chance. The world needs you.”
“I needyou.”
My heart pounded as I looked up at him, at the raw, unguarded truth in his eyes. “Say it, Blake.”
“I love you,” he breathed, before pulling back to meet my eyes.
“I love you,” I said, and a pulse of strength pulled the thread of our Pairing closer.
His expression burned with something fierce, something unstoppable. “When you and Flame went missing—” His voice broke. “Kingsolver and I went feral. I don’t care about any of it. Not the rules, not the magic, not the demons. Nothing but you. I want to be Soul Paired to you, permanently. To save you, yes, but for more than that.”
“But you might die.” My voice cracked.
