Page 137
He held his hands in the air, blood-drenched palms facing her in something like surrender. “Easy. You’re going to bleed out if you don’t let me help you.”
That horrible helmet burning into her face, Ikarus slowly sank to his knees in front of her. He examined the wound, then went very still. It must’ve been bad. “I can get this out, but we need to be quick.”
Anger and disappointment sat on her chest. No. No. No. This was all wrong. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go! She was never going to get away now that he’d found her.
She thought about kicking him and making a run for it, but she was starting to feel lightheaded and her leg felt heavy. She probably wouldn’t make it to the next burrow before she bled out.
Whether she liked it or not, in this moment she needed him. So, with a deep breath through her nose, she nodded.
“This is going to hurt, but I need you to be still. Use me for balance.” Watching her carefully, he guided her hands to rest atop his shoulders. “Squeeze when it hurts, all right?”
Soraya nodded again, hoping he couldn’t feel how badly her fingers were trembling.
He grasped her hip, and Soraya’s breath hitched when he pushed her into the rocks behind her, holding her in place. “Do you trust me?”
“No, but I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
Ikarus raised his free hand, twisting it oh so slowly—
He was sawing her leg off. That was the only explanation for this godsdamned pain that was tearing through her.
She screamed before she could stop herself. She dug her nails into his shoulders, too distracted with the excruciating agony to really appreciate the way his muscles rippled under her touch.
“Shhhh, it’s all right. I’ve got you.” He squeezed her hip as he twisted his wrist again, coaxing the shard out inch by inch. “That’s it. Good girl. Breathe deep.”
She did.
In and out.
In and out.
Until finally, the shard was gone, the pain with it.
Soraya sagged against the wall, eyes fluttering closed. Thank. Fuck.
She was faintly aware of him ripping the bottom of his black shirt and tying it around her thigh to stem the bleeding.
Cold hands cupped her cheeks, and when Soraya blinked, the black, depthless eyes of Ikarus’s helmet were all she could see.
“Get away from her!”
Ikarus turned around, backing away, and Soraya peered over his shoulder. A human soldier was behind them, gun trembling in his hand, and a little further away—
Another demon helmet. Morana.
The next few seconds happened very quickly.
While the human soldier fumbled with their gun, Ikarus wrapped an arm around Soraya’s waist and pulled her into him.
She felt his heart beating like a drum against her spine. Felt him shift behind her and press a finger against her temple.
An icy fog swept across her brain.
It started at the base of her neck, quickly traveling across her shoulders, then down her arms, her stomach. She couldn’t remember her own name by the time it reached her toes, like she’d been pushed out of her own body.
She was a marionette on a set of strings.
She was aware of what was happening, that she’d raised a hand toward that Vordellian soldier, but she had no control. In that split second, she could feel his blood coursing through his body, could feel his pulse fluttering frantically against her fingertips.
