Chapter one
“I’m coming Theo, hold on. Theodosine!”
She was close, and Noryth said the shields weren’t down yet. So she was weak, and in pain as she killed both her father and herself. I followed the smell of her blood, pausing when it got stronger to listen and call her name one more time. She didn’t answer, but I knew she was close as I started to see dead plants that got smaller and smaller. I rounded a barrier of cracked concrete and see two bodies laying in the grass. The garbled ‘no’ barely made it out of my mouth at the realization that it was her. My heart clenched as I lurch forward and ran to her, sliding between her and Kheliq.
There was a knife wound in each of them, but it looked like she’d pulled out the one used to stab her. The knife was still in her hand and I wiped off her healing blood from the blade on my pants and plunged it into Kheliq’s heart. If he was dead she wouldn’t have anymore to drain from him. I could hear the small bubbles of air pop free on Kheliq’s exhale, but, with the finality of the knife, the sound ended and I turned all of my attention to her.
Theodosine was laying on the cold grass and her crimson dress made her look even paler than she was. I pulled her into my lap, taking of my jacket to wrap around her. The plants around her had died thoroughly, some sections turning to dust, so I checked the wound in her stomach. The outer skin looked angry, but it wasn’t actively bleeding so I checked it with my finger and confirmed it was only skin deep. I was willing to bet she healed her wound to make sure she didn’t bleed out before killing Kheliq, but the fucker was dead now and I wanted my girl.
I took her all in as quickly as I could. First there was her dress; which was soaked in blood, then her skin; which was paler than usual around the makeup that she clearly didn’t put on, and her eyes were open the smallest fraction.
“Theo?” I nearly demanded, pushing her blue locks away from her face. “Little mouse, take from me. Take as much as you need. Don’t you dare leave me!”
She didn’t move, her eyes didn’t move and I couldn’t hear her breathing. I started shaking my head. Nope, I’m not losing her. I cut my tongue on my teeth and pressed my lips to hers, forcing the blood into her mouth and down her throat. She was alive, I knew she was. If that prick could still be alive when I got here then she could still be alive now.
“I believe you ok? Message received. You don’t lie and I thought you were exaggerating, like the old you would die and you’d be free of what he did.” A ragged, self- deprecating laugh escaped me. “I’m the worst boyfriend ever, but you got to wake up to reprimand me for it, Little mouse.” My voice was pleading for her, and I didn’t know what I’d do if her stubborn ass didn’t hear me.
I felt a strange loss of silence. Like there was a blanket over the city that muffled the world and then it was gone. Kheliq was vain, believing he could never be killed, so I was willing to bet he didn’t bother tying his magic to anything but himself. It worked to our advantage for getting people out of here, but it also means we were in the middle of an emergency with nothing between the city and outside magic.
I should have cared more, but I didn’t give a shit with my girl lying limp and cold in my lap. I cupped her cheek in my hand and ran my thumb over her lips, gently wiping away blood that I wanted to pretend was only from my kiss. As my thumb pulled at her plump lower lip I could swear I feel it flex against the pad of my finger. I couldn’t stop the strained laugh at feeling her move even that much.
“Anything for you, love.” I whispered, biting my thumb to tuck it between her lips. The blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth and I still couldn’t help but chuckle. “My spoiled girl, as you wish.”
I bit my tongue again instead and leant over to kiss her. I ran my tongue across the roof of her mouth and was sure I felt her tongue against mine for just a second. I pulled back in time to see her throat work. Hope filled me for a heartbeat but faded when her eyes didn’t open and her chest didn’t rise. Save her. She needed energy, but she wasn’t awake enough to take it herself and, as far as I knew, blood wouldn’t get her very far.
Nyx.
She was the best healer I’d ever seen and she’d seen more shit in her time working for Kheliq than any one person ever should. I needed to get her to Nyx. I kissed the top of Theo’s head, promising her that I wouldn’t give up and chastising myself for not taking her seriously. Before I left I stepped on the blade in Kheliq’s chest, burying it to the hilt and making sure he wouldn’t get up. I confirmed his dead before moving on, knowing his current healer was no where near even second place compared to Nyx, and even she couldn’t raise the dead.
I kicked open the door to the room where Tiago was due to meet everyone and sighed with relief. My brother was pacing across the room, and Tiago almost got taken out by the door when I kicked it, but they were still there. Both of their heads jerk towards me and their hands go for their weapons, but they froze when they saw me. Noryth’s brows were pinched so closely together that I knew he was still there due to the guilt her felt, but Tiago looked hopefully to the body in my arms and to my face to try and read the situation.
“Is she…?” Noryth got out first as I kicked the door closed behind me.
“Basically,” I muttered. “She needs Nyx.”
“No problem, I’ll take her to her!” Tiago said excitedly, walking toward me to grab my arm but I flinched away.
“No way she can handle one jump let alone the multiple needed to get her all the way you the house. You’ll have to bring Nyx here,” I interrupted and Tiago nodded, but Noryth’s head jerked up like he’d heard something. “What is it?”
“Someone is replacing the shields over the city. You won’t be able to get out much longer, you need to go,” Noryth insisted.
“We can’t move her like that and I won’t leave her!” I yelled, clutching her cold body closer to mine.
“She made me promise that I wouldn’t let you die for her!” He shouted back. “If she killed her dad…”
“I ended him before his last breath,” I interrupted. “I will not give up on her so easily!”
“She made me swear it!” He yelled again. “Chances are high that whether you killed him minutes before his death or not, it would be enough to poison her against life.”
I said nothing. Just held her firmly in my arms and stared back at him. He sighed and rubbed his nose while looking at the floor. He was thinking. I knew him well enough to know that he could see the sliver of hope the way I did in that. Magic is fickle, and sometimes it does what it wants, but that small fact could mean the world when it came to her life.
“Tiago go, get Nyx ready, we’ll get out of the city, meeting you around here,-“ he pointed to a map on the wall, -“go!”
Tiago listened and was gone in a flash.
“How are we getting out?” I questioned, watching my brother start to pace again.
“The most important thing was getting Tiago out. He’s got a long way to go, and he’s already done it twice tonight. Plus Nyx is likely sleeping and will need to get ready to some extent. If someone is rebuilding all the magic around the city they are trying to take control, and who do we know with that objective…?”
“Helion,” I growled out.
He nodded and pointed an affirming finger at me. “The bastard had a will and found a way. I don’t know if it’s because he remembers everything or that lingering desire for power has always been ready for the opportunity but with his affinity, we can’t stick around. He likely already has the entire inner guard force on his side.”
I grit my teeth, remembering all that he did and tried to do to my girl. I found myself squeezing her tighter and loosened my grip when I thought I heard her breathe. I looked up at Noryth, hoping he heard it too, and he was just staring at her, wide-eyed. After a solid second he shook his head and moved to peak out the door.
“She’s a survivor, that’s for sure, but I’m sure she’s not getting any stronger just laying there, and I doubt she can hang on for long. We gotta get going,” he muttered behind himself at me.
He didn’t have to tell me twice and I followed behind him into the hallway. We definitely stood out, with Noryth in his sneaking blacks, and me holding a woman in a gown, covered in blood, that, best case scenario, was unconscious. If we ran into anyone there would for sure be questions, and that was if Helion hadn’t already told them to arrest us on sight.
