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“What happened?” My voice is raspy and painful.
I look around at the small living area. Lawrence sits at a small table, drumming his fingers over the surface.
Della presses her lips into a thin line, looking to Cassius for an answer as he exits the kitchen with the oracle on his heels. His face darkens, then he rushes to my side, guiding Della out of his way to take her place. His hands are all over my face and neck, feeling for what I assume is a fever. I’m too tired to put up a fight.
“You were injured, little bird,” he says softly as his hand hovers over my chest. “Rest more.”
Cassius reaches down and picks up a cup, bringing it to my lips. Delicate floral notes waft up from wisps of steam.
“Drink,” he commands.
I have no choice but to drink as he tilts the cup, or it will end up down my front. The taste is familiar, reminding me of the sleeping draughts mother made for Kitty and me when we were sick. In moments, my muscles are heavy with exhaustion, and I give into it.
Cassius adjusts me to lay back. Della appears over his shoulder, glowering before I can thank him. She grabs his arms and jerks him away just as my eyes slide closed.
“You are a bastard, Cassius,” Della scolds in a harsh whisper I don’t think she intends for me to hear. “You should have told her.”
“She will find out later, after she heals.”
Find out what?I want to ask, but I’m swallowed up by unconsciousness once more.
Chapter Twenty
Clara
Alaric standsacross from me in the dark void. He lifts his head, bright sapphire eyes glittering. Then, rushing over, he wraps me up in his arms, placing kisses on my forehead, eyes, and lips. Pulling back just enough to look at me, he says, “I fear I have not given you enough credit, my dear Clara.”
“Is this real?” I ask. Reaching up, I skim my fingers across his brow and over the familiar planes of his face.
He looks at his hand and flexes it then moves his arm.
“It feels good to be in control of my body again.” His voice is full of wonder, but it breaks my heart to know how trapped he has been.
Then his mouth crashes back down on mine, kissing me desperately, with the anger and crushing passion we shared every time I tried to cut him. I gasp as his breath steals mine. His fangs scrape the delicate flesh of my lip, and I taste the sharp tang of blood. It is the kiss that stole my heart.
He pulls back, eyes bright in the dark. A thin line of red rings his irises. “You were gone for so long from my dreams, I couldn’t summon you. I thought you had forsaken me, given up your impossible quest… or that you died,” he admits, voice cracking at the end.
I cling to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing myself against him as tightly as possible, wanting nothing more than to be part of him. “You are a fool, Alaric,” I whisper against his chest. “I will never give up on you. Never.”
“You’ve been gone a long time.” He lifts his head and looks off to the side as if he can hear or see something that I can’t.
“It feels like forever,” I agree. “I’ve been gone a few days more than expected, but we will still have a month and a half.”
His head snaps in my direction, brows furrowed. “Clara, it’s been longer than that. The coronation is just over five weeks away. Otherworld take me, I wish you could… but you cannot save me.”
“I refuse to stop trying. What would you do if I was in your place?”
“I would tear the world apart,” he says honestly. One corner of his mouth ticks up in a rueful smile.
“Exactly.”
“It is in the nature of vampires to be selfish. I would see others destroyed to have you by my side.” Alaric laughs softly. “I have held onto my humanity for nearly two hundred years, and within months you have inspired me to embrace what I am. You are the air my lungs demand. And there is no freedom without you.”
Heat races up my neck to burn my cheeks at his proclamation, and yet my heart thunders, reveling in his sweet words.
Gathering me up in his arms, he kisses me. I melt into him, missing his touch, his voice, his presence. It’s a kiss I want to get lost in… a kiss I would die for.
White hot pain pierces flares through my chest. I pull back and press a hand over my heart that is gone in an instant.
