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The glowing noose got looser and I was looking at Rath again—looking at my Heartmate.
“Baby, I’m sorry!” he choked. “I didn’t mean…to let him in.”
“You couldn’t help it!” I said. I started to wade back across the stream but Rath put out a hand to stop me.
“No!” he said. “He’s still…still in here. In me—I can feel him! He’ll kill you if he gets a chance!”
“I have to get rid of him, but I don’t know how!” I confessed. “I was hoping if I knocked you out, he’d leave your body alone!”
“You’ll have to do more…more than knock me out.” Rath’s eyes were grim.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
He took a deep breath, which he was able to do now that I had loosened the noose.
“Baby, you’re going to have to kill me,” he said bluntly.
“What? No!” I exclaimed.
“Yes!” Rath nodded and winced—clearly his neck was sore. “Look, I can feel him in me and I know what he wants. If you don’t kill me, he’ll use my body to kill you. I don’t want that, baby—I’d rather die!”
“I don’t want to kill you—I can’t!” I protested. I wanted to cry, but I held the tears back by main force of will. “There has to be another way to get him out of you!”
Rath shook his head.
“It’s like a fucking plant—a weed—he’s grown roots inside me. I can feel them in my fucking soul. But if you kill me, you can kill him too, I think. Or at least send him back where he came from.”
“No, that’s not good enough—I’m going to kill him without killing or harming you!” I told him. “Rath, I love you!”
His eyes went soft.
“Aw, baby—I love you too. But you’re going to have to do it. You’re going to have to kill me to?—”
Suddenly he stopped and his eyes went from soft gold to burning red again.
“You can’t do it, can you?” the voice of Milas James taunted me. “You can’t bear to kill your own Heartmate, even if I might use him to kill you. That’s all right then—I’ll kill both of you, you nasty little witch!”
“Tighten up!” I told the noose, which was still wrapped around his neck. “Choke him out—as gently as you can,” I added, still worried about Rath.
I watched as the noose tightened and James used Rath’s long fingers to claw at his throat once more. This time, however, I didn’t tell my magic to stop. I watched, feeling numb, as the big Orc’s body slumped to the ground and went limp.
Finally he was completely unconscious. I told the noose to loosen enough to give him air again, but I knew I didn’t have much time. I had to get Milas James out of Rath while his body was knocked out—but how?
I was at a loss until I remembered what Rath had told me.
“He’s like a fucking weed—he’s put roots down in my soul!”
And that gave me an idea…
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Istared across the stream at the body of my Heartmate. Rath was limp and lying on his back. His jaw was slightly open which was perfect for my purposes because now I knew exactly what to do.
Rath had said that Milas James was a weed and what do you do to weeds to get rid of them?
“You pull them out!” I muttered to myself. I was already twisting another piece of magic thread between my fingers. This was going to be the most complicated piece of magic I had done yet, but I had faith I could pull it off…mostly.
“Turn into a hand,” I told it.
