“I told you already, Slave. You and the Nebulari are mine.”
I closed my eyes, vexed. How in the stars had Zemshaza gotten to Nahomie?
How had he seeped into her blood and turned her blackfire against her?
“Have you forgotten so quickly? Don’t you remember your wingbinding? You wanted a bond to break your curse. I knew through your idiocy, you would hand-deliver the Nebulari to me.”A dark and cruel chuckle. “Thanks to you, soon all of Mortevain will also belong to me. Then our conquest of Sorellien will begin, and Namenthys will never rise again.”
A rush of tears fell down my cheeks. I had done this.
I was the reason Nahomie was dying.
I trapped her by bond to help me break my curse. Instead, I’d ensured her own demise. By bonding to me, she would now lose her life, and it was too late to break the bond. To set the heart of my hearts free. My tears fell like rain. Hatred for myself grew. Iwould lose the best thing that ever happened to me... and it was all my fault.
I opened my eyes and looked at my beautiful bride. Leaning down, I took her face into my hands and kissed her forehead before I pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
“Come back to me, Everheart. I love you endlessly.Please. Come back to me.”
The chamber fell deathly quiet as my words fell on a lifeless Nahomie. The thread of our bond was fading, and fast, growing dimmer. Gold now turned white. A sure sign the love of my lifetimes was about to cross into the Ellelights.
“No,” I breathed. “Don’t go. Please. My love.Stay.”
My vision blurred. I sobbed, powerless to do anything. The bond kept fading. In my warms, Nahomie grew weaker and weaker. This couldn’t be how this ended.
“Infinite, I beg of you. Please. Not her.Neverher.Please. Let my Everheart live. Take me instead.”
Sniffles sounded around me like a melancholy choir. The symphony of mourning. The manor walls shuddered. Windows dimmed. Curtains swayed gently. A gentle breeze sifted through the room. The manor had mourned, and so did those who called her walls home. Nahomie had unknowingly become the pillar of joy for us all. The bright light that made everything better.
And now the Phantimèssa of Everthorn Manor was dying.
I poured more of my ethèr across our bond. Held onto it, curling the hand branded with our wingmate mark into Nahomie’s. I intertwined our fingers, dropping my wings on either side of her body. Then.
The bond pulsed, stretched taut, and snapped back into place.
Iridescent light poured along the lines of the bond like a river. There was no beginning to the chromatic river, nor was there any end. The more the chromatic light poured, thestronger the bond became. I sucked in a sharp breath as I focused within, watching in awe.
“All good things come from me. I will not take whom I have given from you. Do not be afraid.”
I gasped, trembling in awe.
The Infinite had heard me. He met me here. Heanswered.
A raucous sob of gratitude erupted from my throat, drenching my cheeks with fresh tears.
Then Nahomie took her first breath. And then her second one.
I wept like a youngling, my nerves unraveling at the sight of her coming back to life, breath by breath. I grabbed hold of her soft hands, placing endless kisses along her knuckles over and over.
“Roièssa?” came a shy whisper from somewhere behind me.
A heavy thump rocked the floor as the Gargorètti collectively dropped to their knees in relief. Bright light poured through the windows as the manor brightened at the sight of color returning to Nahomie’s cheeks. My wingmate, my love, my Everheart released another breath.
And her eyes fluttered open.
Chapter 34
Tassarion
“Roièssa,”Coralai screamed, leaping into the air.
