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“Roman?” Loren echoed, her big, ocean-blue eyes still glued to Darien. They were both bad as hell at not staring. “Have I met him?”
“Not yet.” Ivy was the one who answered, and Darien was glad for it, since his tongue had turned into a useless deadweight. He just kept staring at Loren like a lovesick puppy.
She was going to figure it out. He’d be surprised if they lasted a full twenty-four hours without her confronting him. But overwhelming her was the last thing he wanted to do.
And goddamn, her heart skipped every time she looked at him. The heart that had stopped twice in the last two weeks. Had he not been so hopelessly in love with her, he might’ve left out of fear that he’d be the one to stop that beautiful heart from beating again.
Darien managed to find his voice. “If you’re okay with me carrying you, I will.”
Loren’s hesitation was brief. She nodded, and then slowly let go of Joyce and Ivy’s hands.
The door to the corridor opened, and Tanya walked in, her face lighting up with surprise at the sight of Loren being awake. But she didn’t have a chance to say anything.
Because Loren’s legs gave out. And her heart sped up to a rate that Darien instantly knew was fatal.
46
Caliginous On Silverway
YVESWICH, STATE OF KER
Darien dove, catching Loren before her head could hit the ground.
“Syringes!” he barked. “Now!”
The others launched into motion at once. Joyce passed him the case containing the serum, while Ivy took his place supporting Loren’s head. Lightning-fast, Darien unzipped the case and filled a syringe with a vial of serum.
Loren hadn’t passed out yet. Her eyes were still open—glued to his face and wide with fear.
But her heart was too fast.
He rolled up her sleeve and inserted the syringe into a vein in the crease of her arm. “Just keep breathing, Loren,” he said, pushing his thumb down on the plunger. “Keep breathing. Eyes on me.” He pulled the syringe out, threw it aside, and rubbed the glowing spot in her arm, urging the serum to move through her bloodstream quicker. And then he shifted his hands to support her head, instead of Ivy doing it.
“Darien,” Loren squeezed out. “My heart—”
“I know, sweetheart, I know. Just breathe. Breathe.”
She tried, but it wasn’t fucking working. Her heart was getting faster—it was practically one long beat.
Tanya stood near the back of the group, murmuring frantically to Tanner—something about calling an ambulance.
“No fucking ambulances, no cops!” Darien shouted—
His own heart sped up as he heard Loren’s pulse fade. The pulse point beneath his thumb was so weak, he could barely feel it.
Loren’s eyes glazed over, her lids fluttering shut—
“Turn the chamber on!” Darien thundered over his shoulder.
Tanya’s face went white.
Darien’s next words were so loud, they shredded his throat. “TURN THE FUCKING CHAMBER ON—NOW!”
They say that when a person’s time arrives, a part of them knows.
Loren couldn’t remember anything from the past six months, but she remembered what death felt like—how desperate she was to stay alive while on the other side.
And she knew that this moment might be her last.
