“You are his only hope, Anni,” Sophie repeats, nudging me forward. “Silver is known to kill a wolf, but you’re his fated mate. There must be something you can do….”
The hopelessness in her voice only fills me with dread as I drag my feet forward, dropping to my knees in front of Heinrich and picking up his hand. I pull the cold hand to my lips, sobbing profusely over him because he’s as good as dead.
The thought alone has me choking, the life we didn’t have together flashing before my eyes like a montage to taunt me, haunt me for the rest of a life I’d have to spend without him.
And I can’t bear it.
I place my hand on his stomach, where he’s lost so much blood already, shirt ripped and fabric drenched in crimson ribbons of his lifeforce that has already begun to crust over. I can’t stop sobbing, can’t stop choking, even while the others speak, pace, belt out solutions that I can’t even hear.
“Heinrich, please…” I whimper, vision clouded by the tears I’m shedding. I blink to let his pale face come into focus, eyes tracing the lines of his jaw, fingers ghosting over the light beard on his cheek.
“Please, wake up…” I plead, returning my hand to the injury and closing my eyes, calling upon that center of my magic, not for destruction, but for healing. I find the center, my hand tightening over his, when the gold and scarlet threads behind my eyelids brighten, and it turns into something else.
Something sacred.
A space I’ve never tapped into before, and the colors merge into brilliant white light that spreads to every corner of my vision, and though there’s nothing else around me, I canfeelHeinrich’s presence, along with a divine presence that makes me feel safe.
“Heinrich…?” I call out using the voice in my mind, not my own lips, my voice echoing around the solid white I find myself standing in.
“Annika…” his voice echoes back, and I turn around in that direction, breathing a sigh of relief when I find him walking toward me, dressed in a black robe with a strange sigil embroidered on the left side of his chest. He smiles at me warmly as he approaches, reaching out a hand toward me.
“Where…where are we?” I ask, looking around me as I slip my hand into his. Right now, his hand is warmer than it was just seconds ago, but I realize that we aren’t exactly where we were, with me crouched on the floor, and him lying on the couch, on the brink of death.
His brows furrow gently as he lifts my hand to his lips, pressing a warm kiss on my knuckles. “I guess we’re somewhere in the in-between.”
“The in-between?” I repeat, this time, my brows furrowing. “I don’t even know how we got here.”
“It seems that you brought us here, Anni. Or, at least, you found me here.”
I nod slowly, the extent of my magic shocking me as I realize that this place, the in-between or whatever it is, isn’t somewhere I consciously chose to visit. But in my attempt to heal Heinrich, I’ve come here now, because that’s how much damage was done to him.
He’s about to die.
“You can’t die,” I tell him with urgency ringing through my voice. “You’re gonna die, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to heal you.”
“You’re healing me right now by just being here,” he admits, wrapping his arms around me, but despite the warmth of his presence, this doesn’t feel right.
It feels like a goodbye, and I don’t like it, so I push gently at his shoulders and shake my head when he tries to lean in to kiss me.
“You’re saying goodbye, aren’t you?” I ask, my voice quivering with fear.
His expression softens with a sigh. “Perhaps I am, but I tried, Anni. I tried coming back to you, but there’s poison in my system, and my body can’t survive it.” His crestfallen eyes drop as he hangs his head. “I made a promise to you, and I couldn’t keep that promise. Forgive me, please.”
“No…” I shake my head as I step back, glaring at him furiously. “No. I don’t accept your apology, Heinrich. You can’t die on me. You can’t leave me alone out there.”
“Anni, I’m already d—”
“No! You arenotdead! I refuse to accept this!”
My thundering voice echoes all around me, the vibration setting into my being with frightening strength that ignites my fingertips with the magic I wield outside of this in-between dimension. I’m shocked at myself, gasping as I watch the warm ropes of scarlet paint my veins and the lines in my palms, putting color to the white all around me.
“I can heal you, Heinrich. I can bring you back,” I say with conviction as I look up to meet his curious eyes.
“It’s impossible, Anni. My body isn’t strong enough.”
“I refuse to give up, Henry. I refuse to accept that this is the end for you, for us…” I take a step forward while my fingers tingle with magic. “I know I’ve had so much resistanceto this whole thing, but I understand it now. I understand the fated mate bond, and I know there is no escaping it,” I say breathlessly, planting my hands on his chest as the ribbons of my magic wrap around his arms. “I don’twantto escape it.”
His hands settle on my hips as my magic flows through his veins. “You had every right to be resistant, Anni. What I did to you was wrong, and I’m sorry for that. I literally kidnapped you and forced you into marrying me. I don’t blame you for being angry.”
