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“Shit! Keri, I have to…fuck, I have to cut you. I'm so sorry.”
He picks me up and I'm pretty sure it's not a good sign that I can't even lift my arms to cling to him as he walks us through the cavern.
“What…?” I try to ask, but my tongue is heavy and dry. I put way too much effort into swallowing before I grit out, “What. Is. It?”
“A snake bite. Venomous.” He sits me on something hard and I realize it's the table in the kitchen. “I need to drain it before it spreads. I need to cut you to get it all out of your blood. It will hurt, but it's the only way to save you.”
I feel a tug and hear the rip of my dress. Then, he's turning me on my side, his fingers going to my leg, making me scream out in pain.
“I'm so sorry,” he repeats again and again.
But his words are hard to hear over my own screams and groans at the feeling of him squeezing my calf. The knife cuts into my skin, splitting it open in four different places. My shaking hands grip the table just to keep from reaching down and pushing Linc and his knife away. Warm blood rushes over my leg, my knee, and my ankle. Linc squeezes it to make more come out. I barely have enough energy to whimper in pain now. Then, Linc's lips are on the spot where the snake bit me, sucking. His mouth leaves me, I hear him spit, and then his mouth is sucking my blood again. I feel even worse, though. I'm going to die. Whatever bit me, it's venom was too quick for Linc to save me from it. I'm going to die, without having ever told Linc what I was coming here to tell him.
My eyelids flutter close and I know I don't have long. Linc spits and comes back to my leg again. I reach down, tangling my fingers in his hair, pulling up.
“It's okay,” I think I say. I don't know if it's just in my mind or if I say it out loud at this point.
Linc spits again and I hear him pant out, “That should be all of it.” Then his hands are on my face, shaking me. “Keri, Keri, open your eyes. Please.”
The desperation in his voice makes me smile a little, or at least the corners of my mouth curve up in an attempt to. He does love me. It's clear now. It always was, I guess, and I was just blinding myself to it.
“Yes, yes. I fucking love you, Keri. Please, open your eyes.”
My eyes do open slightly at that. “You…love me?”
“So fucking much. You have to stay awake. Please my Keri.”
“My Keri,” I croak out. “You haven't…”
My words cut off with my lips suddenly feeling numb. My eyes begin closing again, but Linc viciously shakes me.
“Keri, please!” he shouts. Stay with me.”
They feel like they weigh a thousand pounds, but I force my eyelids to open, desperate to see him one more time.
“No, not on more time, Keri. Don't you fucking say that.”
Did I say that out loud? I don't know anymore. But I know what I need to say, before the darkness takes me.
“I love…” I take a shuddering breath that makes my chest hurt. “I love you, Linc. I'm sorry I… I'm sor—”
“You never have to apologize to me. Just stay. Juststay.”
But I can't. I'm so tired. I'm in so much pain. I—
My eyes close and the darkness swallows me.
I blink my eyes open to see the small amount of light from a fire casting a shadow on the wall in front of me. I feel a hard, warm body at my back, and an arm wrapped around me, holding me tighter than it has in days. I put my foot to the bed, using it as leverage to push myself more into Linc, but then pain flares along my calf and it all comes back in a rush. I was bitten, Linc cut me, and sucked the poison out. Linc…saved me, because although I was sure I was dying, here I am.
I want to turn in his arms so I'm facing him, but don't think my leg will allow it, so I roll on my back instead. His face is worried, even in his sleep, with a crinkle between his brows, and his mouth in a grim line. I bring my hand up and stroke it down his cheek. His eyes snap open, widening when he finds me staring at him. A breath that is full of utter relief leaves his mouth and then he's moving over me, cupping my face.
“You're awake. You're awake.” He kisses me, pulling his lips away from mine far too soon. “I have died a hundred lifetimes waiting for these gorgeous eyes to open.”
God, his words are the most beautiful I have ever heard. They remind me of the words I was on my way to say to him. I can't remember if I ever actually said them.
“I love you,” I blurt out.
His mouth curves into a beaming smile. “I love you. I love you so much, my Keri.”
