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We all moved from bed to bed, and it was all too soon when I felt my energy flagging.
“I need a break,” I said to nobody in particular, staggering toward the nearby wall. I slid down it and watched in disbelief as every one of the blood slaves woke up.
Rush’s previous words made a crazy sort of sense now - their unconsciousness had been sort of like an illusion of death, and it had indeed shattered all around us. Had this just been a coincidence, or had Khione really brought them back with her magic?
KANA
I’d been pouring out my heart to Cade, whispering every story I remembered about us, all my frustrations with the Trials and Merden, and all my spindly, threadbare hopes for the future.
He was still beneath me as I curled over his chest, silent and unmoving. His eyes were closed just like all the other slaves, and he was so weak that it was hard to even tell he was breathing. Even his heart was barely a faint echo beneath his distended ribs.
He was slowly starving to death, and I had no idea how to help him.
“I’m so sorry, Echo,” I whispered, using the nickname he’d given himself after being turned into a vampire. It fit now in a way it never had before, and some part of me wanted to feel the twist of guilt that the name brought. I deserved this pain.
“I should be able to help you more. I should have found an answer... I should...” My voice dropped away as a sob threatened in my throat. I buried my face deeper against his skin. He was so cold, even for a vampire.
But then his chest rattled beneath me.
I pushed up, staring desperately down at him. “Cade?”
A raspy moan, hardly more than a breath, crawled from between his cracked, bloodless lips.
“Cade? It’s Kana. Can you hear me?” I tried again, sitting up next to him in the bed. His head rolled from side to side, his body trembling with the effort. Fuck, he was so weak. I untangled myself from my blanket and pressed my hands to his cheeks. They were like solid blocks of ice.
Even his hair seemed frozen into straw like clumps, and suddenly the image of Rush’s ruined garden filled my mind.
“No,” I growled, though Cade certainly didn’t seem to hear me.
His hands jerked, somehow finding my arm and latching onto it like claws. Even though his eyes were still tightly shut, his mouth was open, fangs extended, and I didn’t resist at all when he dragged my wrist to his lips.
“Drink from me, Cade. Yes,” I whispered, pressing my wrist against his fangs and letting my skin tear beneath their icy points. Hot blood streamed from the wound, and a guttural noise burst from Cade’s lungs. I blinked back tears - he was finally drinking from me.
He was finallyawake.
Cade sucked down my blood in huge, greedy gulps, his body convulsing with the influx of nourishment and magic. I tried to steady myself against the bed. He was drinking so much that I suddenly worried I might pass out. He could drain me dry, and I’d never know it.
Scrambling off of him, I struggled to release my wrist without hurting him.
A keening sound came from him as I took away the blood, but he quieted quickly, still too weak for further protest. Cade’schest rose and fell rapidly as he breathed and assimilated the new blood.
“Cade? Can you open your eyes?” I coaxed, standing just to the left of the bed.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he cracked open his eyelids. I nearly cried with relief when those familiar icy blue eyes shone wide, staring up at me. They were dull, though, without recognition. He was still so sick. And as he stared, I realized he wasn’t really responding to my face. It seemed like he wasn’t truly seeing me.
I called his name again, and he tilted his head toward my voice. Still, there was no sign of awareness that his ownaimastood next to the bed, and my heart ached.
I would take Acadian alive, no matter what state his mind was in. But by the Goddess, I prayed that his memory would come back the way his consciousness had. Maybe I’d been wrong to doubt Khione - this could be the rebirth she’d spoken of.
But as selfish as it might sound, I didn’t want a new Cade. I wantedmyCade.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KANA
I was unwilling to leave Cade even for a moment, but I needed to find Rush and Kas.
I owed them both an apology, and Cade needed medical attention immediately. I hurried to dig in my old drawers, finding some clothing that still sort of fit and wasn’t entirely hideous. Then I gathered Cade in my arms, bloody blanket and all. His slight weight felt like a child’s, except for his long legs dangling over my arm.
