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“I can’t!” I screamed. Couldn’t he see that I was just as pained as he was? I was losing her, I was going to watch her die. “Warren, leave! Let her die in peace,”

“You think she’s dyingpeacefully? Don’t be dense, you know she’s suffering—Gods, we can’t let her be in as much pain as she’s in! Mercy, she's going to die!”

He didn’t need to hear my response. I shielded Cecelia from him, a low grumble coming from the inhuman place in my heart. His responding guttural cry made the hairs rise across my arms.

“We can’t change her, Warren,” I begged him to see the torment at war in my mind, an overwhelming collection of weaknesses on display for all to see, “We can’t make that decision for her.”

His gaze softened, and his rough hands turned into a gentle caress that ran down the side of my face. He lowered his head to my shoulder and fisted each hand.

“Mercy,” his voice was as soft as a whisper now, “Please don’t let her die.”

“I didn’t get the choice, Warren. You know that.”

“But look at you now,” he pushed.

“A monster? A chaos demon worth little more than the rats of a gutter?”

“A lover. A friend. A queen.”

“I am no queen.”

Warren grabbed a hold of my chin and turned it to face him. It was the roughest he’d ever been with me. I watched as a myriad of emotions crossed his irises before he settled on an impatient plea.

“You are nothing, you’re right. You are nothing withouther. We need her.”

“Have you ever thought about whether she needs us, Warren? Cecelia has been through so much trauma, all at the hands of our coven. How can you even think to make this choice for her, knowing what we’ve done to her?”

His tongue rolled in his mouth, and he didn’t even try to wipe at the drool that was falling down his chin. We were nothing more than a bunch of rabid animals. Cece twitched in my arms, and the movement was enough for the both of us to turn sharply towards her.

“We don’t have much time,” I said solemnly. My voice found the uncertain waver in it again.

Warren’s voice raised an octave in reply, “We are selfish creatures, Merc. Just do it. Prove to yourself that you are the woman I promised myself to. A woman capable of moving mountains. You wanted to be a queen? Prove it and take your consort. ”

I hesitated, my onyx hair dangling over Cecelia’s corpse.

“You didn’t get the choice, Mercy. Those men didn’t give you the chance to choose your destiny. I know it feels like you’re repeating their sins, butsheis different. I can almost guarantee that Cecelia would choose to live. She would choose you too.”

He was grasping at any string he could, and it was in his favor that the string he tugged on was the one that connected directly to my wild heart.

“This isn’t just your choice,” he added quietly. There was a whimper of hurt laced into his words, “she’s my friend. I can’t watch her die.”

All the faith, all the rage, all the pain inside of me bubbled in the pit of my stomach. I let go and dropped Cecelia gently to the ground. Warren sobbed as he watched me, it was as if I was lowering her to rest. Her chest was practically still now, and her limbs were stiffening up in preparation for rigor mortis. I grabbed onto her wrist and brought it up to my lips in a kiss. It was a featherlight touch, enough of a farewell that Warren turned his back on me.

My kiss turned into something far more deadly.

I let my fangs slide into the vein that lined her arm, and moaned in quiet satisfaction as the sweetness of her blood met the back of my throat. Careful not to drink, I lapped at the wound, letting more and more of the venom seep from me and into her. The stiffness of her muscles spasmed as my parasite infiltrated her body. I didn’t know when to stop, and so I kept going. I had changed too many willing souls to the life of immortality. All were complicit, but each was different. Without Cecelia awake to help me gage, I was unsure if I was even too late to save her. So still I sat with her wrist against my mouth, hating every moment of my teeth connected to her skin.

There was something erotic about our positioning, and the power I felt holding her life in my hands. I hated myself for the choice that I was making. Warren had known what words to say to make me save her, but it would be at the cost of what little faith I had left in myself.

I draped over her as I finished, panting from the exhaustion that overwhelmed me.

“You did it,” Warren said, with the nerve to sound thoroughly shocked.

“As if you gave me a choice.” I murmured, glancing back to Cecelia’s face. I stood up and dusted my slacks, almost stumbling from the blood now rushing to my head. Warren attended to Cece quickly, sealing up her remaining wounds and picking her up effortlessly into his arms. I watched as he cradled her.

“Now we wait,” he said almost wistfully. I could feel the weight of his gratefulness heavy in those words, and did nothing but nod. He didn’t take offense to my silence, instead barreling past it as if it never happened.

“I’ll get her set up in your bed. She’ll be more comfortable there. I can move her belongings there too, if you’d like—”