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I ignore the terror his words inspire within me. Trapped in Adelphi?
Not going to happen. I will drag Quill from this fucking city with one hand, another on my weeping gut, before I let Father or Vivvy get their hands on us.
“We’ll be right behind you.” My tone is steely, determined. “Go.”
With fearful parting glances, they myst out of the manor. Instantly, there’s the trickle of blaring alarms. The hourglass I’ve been so desperate to escape begins trickling sand once more.
Quill’s so very still before me, fingers curved into dangerous claws.
I murmur his name.
He jerks in recognition, but he doesn’t snap out of it.
“Quill,” I say again, harsher this time. “Help me up.”
His nostrils flare, but he bends and carefully scoops me into his arms. Though he’s incredibly gentle, it still hurts like mad. I hiss against the pain, exhaling the fresh wave of nausea.
I didn’t even know vampires could become nauseous.
“Take me home,” I command.
He doesn’t budge. That cold, predatory gaze lingers.
The room spins around me, the edges of my peripheral vision darkening.
Not a vision. Death. Lurking, waiting.
Not yet, I tell the crone. When we’re safe. When he’s safe.
With one sticky hand pressing against my wound, I use the other to brush his blood-soaked hair from his eyes. “I need you to come back to me, please.”
He blinks.
The alarms are louder now, and time… We’re running out of it.
I’m running out of it as the black spreads like spiderwebs across my vision.
“Come back to me,” I beg, blinking against the encroaching darkness.
The muscles in his jaw clench and unclench.
It’s not enough. Through the black, there’s an incandescent light sparkling outside the windows—wards snapping into place.
The hourglass is nearly empty.
My hand slides to the back of his neck, and I jerk his face so close I’m able to steal a kiss. I taste the agony on his tongue, the promise to keep me safe as Adelphi’s cage seals around us. I break away, just to murmur a desperate final command against his lips. “Take me home, Quill, and let me show you how much I love you.”
Glittering magic swirls around us. I sag in relief as what’s left of Brutus, the manor, and Adelphi and its cage fade into the black around us.
The tepidarium in the celestial wing comes into hazy focus. Steam rises from the baths in a warm, welcome greeting.
Home.
Safe.
Though blood continues to spill through my fingers, my body incapable of healing while the silver poisons my bloodstream, I nearly weep with absolute joy.
We’re safe. Safe safe safe.
