But in that terrible, soul-wrenching instant, I realized it wasn’t me she was after tonight. Not yet, anyway.
She charged toward us in a blur, plucking a witch from the group and sinking her fangs into her neck. It was over in an instant. She dropped the witch like a rag doll, sparing me a quick, bloodstained smile before blurring out of sight.
My heart shattered, exploding in a million tiny shards inside my chest.
I couldn’t feel my legs, my lungs, my face. Nothing was working. Nothing would ever work properly again.
Because the witch lying broken on the street, blood leaking from her artery as she sputtered and gasped for her final breaths, was Reva.
Thirty-Two
LIAM
Darius charged after Trinity, disappearing around the corner as Gray dropped to her knees beside us.
Her heartbreak mirrored my own, and as she wept for the child that’d become like a fourth sister to her, I felt the weight of her impending loss bearing down on us both.
It stole the very breath from my lungs.
“I love you, Gray,” Reva choked out. “You’re… You’re my sister in all the ways that… that count.”
“Reva, don’t talk.” Gray held the girl’s hands, pressing them to her heart as if she could bring Reva back from the brink with the force of her love alone. “Save your strength. We’ll fix this. We have to fix this.”
“It’s too late,” Reva said. “Don’t—”
“If you say I’m your sister, then you have to listen to what I say,” Gray snapped. “And right now, I say itisn’ttoo late.” She scanned the street in both directions, frantic. “Damn it. Where is McKenna? We need healing, now. Liam, find—”
“Gray, I… I need to talk to Liam alone.” Reva’s voice was faint, but her eyes were calm and clear. Resigned.
“Shh,” Gray said. “Just be still.”
“You have to let me go.” A tear tracked down Reva’s cheek, and Gray gasped, sensing the end was near.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Gray said. “I can… I can fix this.” She closed her eyes, then shook her head, as if she were talking herself out of something terrible.
Or, more likely,intosomething terrible.
Immediately I sensed the direction of her thoughts, and I placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her back from the darkness.
“No, Gray,” I said softly. Gently. “Your heart is in the right place, but you mustn’t act on it.”
We both knew Reva wouldn’t want Gray to turn her into a vampire, or to manipulate her soul energy, even if it meant saving her life. Even as Gray’s skills had improved immeasurably, there could never be a resurrection without loss.
Reva would certainly lose something—some part of herself, some memory, something crucial that made her the Reva we all knew and loved.
“I can’t just leave her like this!” Gray shouted, but I saw the resignation in her eyes, and tried not to show the relief in mine.
Reva was going to die. We both knew it. All that we had left was a precious moment in which to say goodbye.
I knew from my long tenure as Death that even a single moment was more than most people got, and my heart swelled, grateful for the gift that it was. Grateful for the gift that Revaherselfhad been, shining her light into our lives, however briefly.
“We’re not leaving you,” Gray told her, stroking her cheek. “We’ll be right here the whole time.”
Reva shook her head. “I want… I need to be alone with Liam. Please, Gray.”
Gray bit her lip, shaking her head, but again I saw the resignation in her eyes. She would grant Reva this last wish, despite her own wishes on the matter.
“Are you sure?” she finally asked.
