Page 147 of The Gods Forbid

My voice was hurting, and I was forced to replace the broken screams with quiet whispers.

“Please, please, please,” I said over and over, speaking directly over his heart. It wasn’t getting any stronger. It wasn’t getting any weaker either, but I needed Sebastian alive, not unconscious. My forehead had fallen onto my hands, which rested over his heart.

With each please, I shot a little bolt of electricity into his chest, hoping that would do something to strengthen his heartbeat.

“Persy…” Adrian said, and I felt his hand come down over my shoulder.

“No!” I cried, clinging harder to Sebastian. If I let go of him, Adrian or the Fates or someone else might try to take him away from me.

“Please,” he said, his voice breaking. “We can try to help him.”

“No one can help him,” I said, hiccuping the words through a sob. “He’s the only god of medicine. Who is supposed to heal him?!”

I turned to look at my brother then, finding his own expression anguished, his eyes glassy like raindrops on a window. He crouched down next to me, smoothing his hand over my hair.

I understood what Sebastian meant about pity now. I hated it.

I didn’t want pity. I wanted Sebastian.

“He can’t die,” I said softly, only able to confess the words to my big brother.

For a second, I thought Adrian was going to cry. “Let’s try something together, alright? Let’s both try to use a bit of electricity and see if that works.”

I could feel my eyebrows crunch together then release, unsure if that would work.

Adrian gave me a small smile, and for a moment we felt more like children of four and ten than adults. “I’ve knocked him out and brought him back before. Maybe it’ll work when I help.”

I was only able to nod and curl my hands tighter on Sebastian’s chest. Adrian’s palm landed next to mine a second later, his other arm coming around my shoulders in a comforting embrace.

Again, I didn’t want comfort. I didn’t want pity. I wanted Sebastian.

“On the count of three,” Adrian said, his voice low. He counted us off and on three, I focused all my energy on sending a spark into Sebastian’s chest. Even though it was lightning, I tried to make it as soft as possible. No one liked to be woken up with a jolt.

I held my breath, praying for it to work.

One second passed, then another.

And Sebastian’s heartbeat still felt weak. A broken, pained whimper left my throat as I crumpled over him again, fresh tears streaming down my cheeks.

“You do not get to die on my sister,” Adrian cursed from beside me. The next thing I knew, he was pulling me away from Sebastian with enough force that it ripped my hands from him but soft enough that it didn’t hurt me.

Right as I was lunging back towards him, a fresh cry building on my tongue, Adrian slammed his hand roughly into Sebastian’s chest, sending a lightning bolt strong enough into his body that the hairs on my arms rose.

Adrian dropped Sebastian back down to the floor, breathing heavily with exertion.

One second passed, then another, and this time Sebastian twitched.

I was frozen still with hope and anticipation and relief and a thousand other emotions as I watched Sebastian’s chest heave with a large breath and his eyelids flutter open.

And the second his multicolored gaze collided with mine, I lost it.

If I thought something had broken before, it was destroyed now.

My sanity was gone, replaced only by one emotion eclipsing the others.

It wasn’t one I expected. It was … anger.

Blinding, panicked, infuriating rage.