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“Urban!” Allera tried to grab my arm, but there was no stopping me. Not at a time like this. I brushed her off, lying, “I can still feel her. The mark’s not completely gone yet. There’s still a chance.”
The truth was I felt nothing from my mark. Not any longer.
But Allera looked to my left temple, and her eyes widened. With hope? I think so, because she grabbed with my arm, trying to pull me and shove me at the same time toward the bed. “You’re right. Hurry. Hurry! See what you can do.”
I stumbled past her, only to lurch to a halt when I beheld the limp and pale, lifeless woman on the bed, smeared and splattered with blood.
A few feet away, two women quietly cooed over the bundled infant, already getting it to quiet its wails.
The queen had stopped screaming and stood on the other side of the bed, covering her mouth with her hands, a look of shock and horror contorting her features. And Vienne… Vienne looked as if she’s been drained of all life.
Because she had.
My one true love was dead.
Chapter 15
Urban
At first, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t respond. I’d spent the last few weeks, obsessing over this woman, driving myself mad with thoughts of her, wanting to please her, and honor her, and learn more about her, and just live my life for nothing but her. But now… Now I stared down at the stranger she still was, numb with shock. There was nothing. All that hopeless longing, the blind devotion, the unbreakable bond I’d felt for her… It was gone.
Maybe I should’ve felt free.
Except I didn’t.
I wanted it back. I wanted to feel as if I belonged to my mate—my one true love—once again. I wanted her in my blood, in my soul, in the very air I breathed.
Besides… I glanced toward the crib where the newborn was squalling again, filling its lungs with fear as it demanded to be returned to its mother.
Had I cried like that when I’d been born and my mother lay dead a few feet away? I’d never gotten to know the woman who’d borne me; Vienne would not want the same fate for her child.
Soren shoved past me, bumping roughly against my arm so he could stumble to a halt next to Yasmin and peer down at his lifeless wife.
“What..?” He shook his head, staring at Vienne’s body in confusion, before he glanced up, scowling. “What the hell have you mad bitches done to her?”
The healers tending to the babe whirled and gaped at Soren, clearly fearing for their lives. “We…we tried to save her, sir. We swear. But the babe was so big—”
“And it was turned wrong,” the other one chimed in.
“We had to cut it out.”
I gulped, feeling sick to my stomach. The blanket covering Vienne’s midsection was so soaked with blood I could tell they hadn’t bothered to stitch her back together again.
“Oh God,” I croaked, finally stumbling toward her, one wobbling stiff-jointed step at a time.
I needed to feel her presence inside me again, needed to feel bound to the other half of myself.
“Hey!” Soren growled as I fell to my knees at her side. “What the hell do you think you’re—”
“No!” Allera jumped in front of him, blocking his path. She clutched his arms and tried to reassure him. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. Urban may be able to save her. Just let him try. Please.”
“What?” Soren transferred his scowl to Allera, only to blink and shake his head. “What the hell do you mean? Is he some kind of healer? She’s already gone. Does he possess some kind of magic, then?”
“Magic?” the king boomed as he entered the room.
I could practically hear Allera gulp as she looked my way, not ready to tell them the truth.
“Do it now, Urban,” she urged. “There can’t be much time left.”
