And not ashamed.
“So it shall be,” I said, expecting—and hoping for—its immediate retreat.
But the Old One lingered.
The glowing eyes dimmed, the smoke thinning, but still, it did not vanish.
Suddenly I felt it inside me again, filling my chest, surrounding Liam Colebrook’s heart.Myheart. It beat frantically as a mouse caught by a predator, desperate for escape. My body flooded with fear. Adrenaline.
And beneath all of that, something else.
Hope.
“Your human heart shall be your downfall, Lord of Shadows,” the voice echoed ominously. “And the downfall of those you’ve come to love as well.”
Your human heart…
Hope surged, drowning out the fear. The Old One had touched upon something deeply personal within me; I’d never felt more human than I did in that moment, knowing I’d broken my sacred vows beyond all repair, knowing that I’d made my choices willingly, knowing that I’d sacrificed something precious so that others might have a chance at something even better.
“Perhaps,” I countered, the beat of that almost-human heart as loud and steady as a drum in my ears, “it shall be our savior instead.”
Fourteen
EMILIO
Snatches of memory flickered behind my eyes. The flash of magic… My wolf form lunging at a fae soldier… The metallic taste of his blood filling my mouth. The fierce clanging of swords reverberated off the walls. Ronan was shouting, running toward me. Elena in the line of fire. Ronan’s face, stricken and panicked.
And then came the burning. Poison. My body feeling like it was consuming itself just to escape.
Pain. So much pain, and everyone around me screaming, all at once. Shouting orders. Ronan bent over me. Elena, tears leaking from her eyes. And Gray, holding my hand…
Fire. Smoke. So hot, and still so much pain.
And then…. Nothing. I was floating, soaring like a bird through the night sky until the inferno at the warehouse was nothing more than a tiny point of light on an infinite black canvas.
There was a tug, a presence, something telling me to let go. I wanted to. Anything to make the pain end. But then her voice broke through the mindless haze, clear as a song on a silent night.
Mi brujita bonita,calling me home…
Gray,I mouthed, but no sound came out. I felt the beating of my heart in my chest, the blood running through my veins, strong and clear once again. I smelled the antiseptic scents of floor cleaner and medicine and gauze. My skin crawled with an itch so deep, I was sure it would never fade.
But I was alive. I knew it with every fiber of my being. I was alive.
My head was heavy, my body trying to drag me back into a deep sleep, but I fought it. Where had I ended up? I had to see. Had to know. Slowly, I forced my eyes to open, recoiling at the sudden flood of white light.
I tried again. A peek. A little wider. Shapes and shadows emerged before me, filling in the light. Molecule by molecule, it seemed, my surroundings finally solidified.
I was in a bed, taped up with bandages, wearing nothing but gauze and a flannel sheet covering my lower half. It smelled like me. It smelled like Gray. The room was familiar, as was the woman keeping vigil at my bedside.
Gray,I mouthed again, but no, it wasn’t her scent.
The woman beside me was my sister, seated in a chair next to the bed, her back ramrod straight, her hand resting on my forearm. Her face was turned in profile, her gaze focused on something outside the window.
She hadn’t seen me yet, and I took the stolen moment to watch her. To re-memorize the shape of her face, the color of her hair. She had a few years on me, but when we were children, people used to think we were twins.
Same golden skin. Same wavy black hair. Same smiles.
It was a long time ago.
