The jacket!I need the jacket.
“I figured she might as well try.”
“You know it won’t work.”
Ignoring them, I race into the bathroom and pick the jacket up off the floor.Shuffling it in my hands, Itryto find the wet smears, praying that theyaren’t allcrusty yet.I’venever timed how long ittakesfor semen to dry before.What if ithasbeen left too long?Doesthe soul disappear when the cumisno longer viable?How do I not know how long cum can last outside the body?
My shoulders bow forward in reliefwhenI finallyfindthe clumps I’mlooking for.Except theyarealready crusty.No!Itdoesn’tmatter.Ihaveto try.
“Arienna, stop.You have to accept he’s gone!”
Kneeling beside him, I pray that thiswillwork.Idon’twant to think about a future without him.He’smy lifemate,I think.ButI love him –and I know that for sure.“So what do I do?”I whisper hoarsely.“Do I just put it in his mouth?”
“I’m no necromancer,”Jacedrawls, “but that sounds rightto me.”
Trembling, I place the jacket in Richard’s mouth and drag it across his tongue.“Come on,” I pray.“Come on, come on, come on.Hel,Venir Goddess of Death,if you give him back to me, I promise I will sing your praisesforas long as I live.”
“I think you need to give him some more,” Jacesays.
Pulling the jacket out, I realise the splodgeof cum isgone.Shifting it around, I scrape another clump onto his tongue.Tears rain down my cheeks.The world blurs.He blurs.Thishasto work.
Whyisn’tit working?
“You mother fucker,” Fabiasaysslowly as Itrya third time, my hands shaking.“He’s not dying, is he?That’s why you’re just standing thereand why we’re not dead yet.”
My headjerksup.
My heart grabshold of her words.
“He’s not?”I breath, praying it’strue.
Jace smiles, but itisheartless and cold.“No.”
I blink.Idon’tunderstand.“Then why isn’t he moving?”
“Because it knocked him out.She must have used a hel of a dosage, way more than the necessary amount.”
I pull the jacket out of his mouth and lean down to check his pulse.My head on his chest,I hear nothing.
And then – there.
A slow thump.
A sign of life.
Holding him tight, Icry,“I don’t understand.Why let me try my hand at necromancy then?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to until you mentioned putting cum in his mouth.”He shrugs.“The fucker ate my cake; I wasn’t going to passtheopportunity up.”
“Opportunity…?”He’sinsane.Thisisinsane.
“How did you know we’d poison him?”Fabia asks, her voice a lot stronger than mine.
“What else were you going to do?Get close enough to stab him?”Heshakeshis head, then piercesme with a stare.“I knew you were planning on killing him from the moment I learned about the wasps.So I made sure any plans you ‘thought up’ were ones I approved of.”
The disappointment in his eyes cutsme down like wheat at harvest time.Caving in on myself, I wrap my armstightaround my waist andtryto breathe.
He turnsto Fabia.“And I swapped out all of your poisons with another – one he’s immune to.Did you really think I wouldn’t recognise them when I had them boxed up and brought back?”
