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“And if it doesn’t work?” Adrian asked, his large, warm hand sliding up my arm in soft strokes.

“It’ll be no worse.” The words were hard, final.

“Do it,” I said, my voice weak. But I knew what situation I was in. And I had more life that I wanted to live. Time I wanted to spend with my family and my friends and the man holding me like I was his lifeline.

“You heard her,” Adrian snapped. “Do. It.” I tensed again, bracing for Sebastian’s touch.

Adrian, bless him, didn’t need a word from my mouth to know what I wanted. “I’ll do it,” he whispered, speaking right into my ear.

I nodded, clutching onto his forearm.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” he said, just gruff enough to distract me as he snapped the end of the arrow, lighting my frayed nerves on fire. I caught a sob in my throat, trying not to show how painful it was. Adrian’s lips fell to my temple, soothing just that one bit of skin on my body.

I took a deep breath in, as much as I could manage, preparing myself for the next lash of pain.

“You’re going to marry me,” Adrian said softly, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear. I sucked in a shocked breath, distracted by the sincerity in his tone, so different than the teasing lilt he normally used when he brought up marriage. My head turned to look at him, despite my stiff neck, fast enough that I didn’t even feel him pull the arrow out of my back until it was gone, leaving a dull pulse of pain behind.

It didn’t feel as bad as before, almost like an overworked muscle that was straining. The change gave me just enough relief to respond, “Okay,” as I held ontoAdrian’s eyes as tight as he was holding my body.

With every second that passed, I started to feel a little better. Until Sebastian’s hand came back down on my shoulder and that bright pulse of light crept back into my skin. It moved across my chest in the same way, then down to my abdomen.

I jerked forward into Adrian’s hold when it hit my stomach, the energy ricocheting off where my injuries were, like the healing touch was being pushed away.

The sunlight flare tried again, harder this time, and a flash of heat ran through my limbs and returned some feeling to my cheeks.

“What are you doing?” Adrian snapped when it happened a third time and I failed to restrain a pained groan.

“It’s, uh,” Sebastian’s voice faltered, so uncommon for someone who could naturally command a room with his voice. “It’s not working.”

A growl rumbled from Adrian’s chest, timed with an equally menacing roll of thunder. “Try again.”

“I did. Three times,” Sebastian said, sounding like he didn’t quite believe his own words. But not because they weren’t true, more in disbelief. “It’s not working.”

My stomach sank. If it wasn’t working then I assumed that meant that his power could do nothing for me. That my injuries were too severe.

Maybe it was my body pumping the last energy it was capable of generating into my limbs, but I didn’t feel all that weak.

Drained, yes. Tired, certainly.

But not on death’s doorstep.

Adrian seemed to understand Sebastian’s words in the same way I had, because his next words carried adark vow Iknewhe’d fulfill. “I will find a way to kill you, I promise.”

Adrian was shaking still, though it was growing more forceful, more panicked. The storm was picking up speed too, drenching his office and everyone in it in ice cold rain, the chill made worse by the brutal wind that followed.

I was feeling strong enough to use my voice. “Adrian, I—“

“Don’t.” It sounded like Adrian was begging. “Please.”

I wasn’t sure what he was asking for, but I simply held onto him tighter, trying to show him that I had strength in my grip. I wasn’t even sure I was still bleeding—not the way I was anyway.

My vision was getting stronger too, enough that I saw Rose approach with Dominic in tow. In a flash, she used that same maneuver she used on one of the guards, dropping Sebastian’s massive form like a stone with one intentional press on the side of his neck.

Then she walked over to us and bent down. “Can I see your hand, please?” she asked quietly, eyes darting to Adrian for a second.

I nodded, wrenching one of my hands from Adrian’s forearms and extending it to her. Rose wrapped her fingers around my wrist, pressing down firmly. Whereas Sebastian’s power was all light, her power was the deepest of blacks. Death itself.

A chill spread up my arms and to my heart, sliding over it in a soft caress. Rose’s brow furrowed, either in concentration or something else. “Dominic?” she beckoned.