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But several minutes go by. And he’s still looking up to the sky. Empty.Gone. Tears frozen down the sides of his face.
Warrose touches my shoulder, mumbling something I don’t want to hear. I shrug him off, refusing to take my eyes off of Dessin. “We just have to wait!” I tell them.
I see a group of men carrying Niles away on their shoulders.
“Is he okay?” I ask. He’s hurt because of me. I left him to free DaiSzek alone because I screamed, distracting Dessin. This is all my fault.
“He’s badly burned. We have to get him back to base,” a man says to Aurick.
My fault.
I need Dessin to wake up. Once he breathes again and squeezes my hand back, we can go help Niles. We can leave this cursed beach. We can run away with DaiSzek and go back to our lives traveling through the forest.
“Skylenna,” Ruth whimpers after several more minutes. She’s crawling through the sand to my left side. “He’s gone. You have to let him go now.” Her cries anger me. How could she have such little faith in him? He saved her when she was captured. He fought off a small army of beasts three times his size. He endured years of suffering in the asylum and Demechnef training.
“Just give me a goddamn minute!” I hiss at her.
Without letting go of his hand, I lean down to Dessin’s chest, pressing the side of my face against it. His heart will start beating at any moment. But more blood gushes around my ear, spreading over my cheek and into my hair.
Empty.
It’s as if his heart was torn out of his chest.
My fault.
Ruth uses both hands to cover her mouth, and she gasps and sobs. My face against his bloody chest is upsetting her more.
“I’m going to hear his heart beating,” I assure her.
Aurick drops to one knee in front of Dessin’s feet, staring at me with parted lips and round, glossy eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
But his heart still isn’t beating. Why isn’t he breathing again?It’s been too long!I think about the hundreds of times I’ve buried my face into his chest. Every moment I’ve heard life inside of him.
And it’s gone.
I lift my face, staring at the group of faces watching me. “He’s not breathing,” I utter, voice breaking into tiny pieces. “I can’t hear his heart beating!”
Pain wraps its strong arms around me, breaking my bones and cutting off my circulation.
“It’s going to be okay.” Aurick’s smooth voice slithers through my pounding head. And I flinch, shooting my gaze to him.
“You did this. You’re the reason he became this man. You need to bring him back!” I scream, eyes burning with fresh tears that want to be set free.
Aurick furrows his brow, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Skylenna.”
I slam a fist down into the sand, fire coursing through my veins. My head throbs from a migraine, with small scalpels cutting into my brain. “Bring him back to me!” I scream, hugging Dessin tighter to my body. “I won’t let go!”
“You have to. It’s time.”
“No!” My voice is unrecognizable as I shout like a rabid animal. “No! That’s not enough for me! We hardly had any time!” I kiss his cheeks, covered in dried blood, over and over again. My tears smearing it across his face. “Please, come back to me,” I whisper in his ear, remembering when I brought Kane out of the inner world.
“Let me help you up.” Warrose is suddenly behind me, hooking his hands under my arms to pull me away from the man I love.
“Get the fuck off of me!” I swing my elbow into his ribs as hard as I can, gripping Dessin’s body like I’m falling, slipping into the void, and he’s my only way to survive.
Warrose stumbles back, grunting at my assault.
“His body is still warm!” I shriek. “Oh god,” I gasp, looking down at my bloody hands. “Please don’t be dead!” I’m hyperventilating, gasping for air, tears streaming down my chest as more keep coming.
