Page 133

“You are not!” Alex was unable to keep the tears from welling in her eyes as she ripped off part of her undershirt, pressing it hard against his wound to stem the flow of blood. She winced when he winced, but she was still angry enough to reply, “I’ll Claim you again myself if I have to!”

“You know that won’t work,” he said quietly—and he was right. She couldn’t share her life force again with him, since they were technically already connected.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, ignoring the full-body trembles that began shaking her frame. “You won’t need it anyway. You’ll be better any second now.”

“Aeylia, sweetheart, look at me,” Niyx said in a soft, gentle voice at odds with the pain in his amethyst eyes. It was enough to make Alex curl in on herself, but she still did as he asked and met his gaze.

Unable to keep the fear from her tone, she whispered, “Why aren’t you healing?”

His apologetic, knowing look returned, much clearer this time.

“Aven’s sword—” He stopped to hack out a horrible, gurgling cough that had Alex clutching at his torso to keep him still. “Vae’varka—it’s made fromtraesos, pure darkness.” He wheezed in a rasping breath. “To a Meyarin, its effects are worse than Sarnaph blood, and much swifter. Even if he’d just scratched me, it still would have been enough to—enough to—”

He started coughing again, and Alex leaned over him, dribbling morelaendrainto his mouth once his hacking eased. She was determined that the flower would take effect soon. Ithadto.

“Shhhh,” she told him, tears streaming silently down her cheeks. “Just—Just stop talking and save your strength, okay? Let thelaendrawork.”

He didn’t listen to her. He rarely did.

“I always knew I would die for you, kitten.”

Agony. Like a blade piercing her heart, all Alex felt at his words was pure agony.

She inhaled on a sob and ripped off more of her undershirt, switching it with the first blood-drenched wad of material as she forced words past the lump in her throat, refusing to believe that he might be right. “Quiet, Niyx.”

Again, he didn’t listen.

“I once told you that I sacrificed everything for you,” he whispered, his cold hands reaching weakly to rest atop hers on his chest, silver blood swiftly covering them both. “But you have to know, kitten, I would do it all over again for a thousand lifetimes if it meant the privilege of knowing you.”

“P-please, Niyx, s-stop talking,” Alex told him, now crying openly. “Y-you’re going t-to be f-fine.”

He coughed again, his whole torso convulsing under her hands. But even then he didn’t stop speaking. “Tell Mayra—” Another hacking breath. “Tell my sister that I love her. And that I’m sorry.”

Alex could barely see him through her tears. “T-tell her y-yourself.”

Niyx moved one blood-soaked hand until it cupped her cheek, his beautiful eyes shining as he stared up at her and whispered, “I’m so proud of you, Alexandra Jennings. So incredibly proud.”

“N-Niyx—” She choked on a sob and held his hand close to her face. “D-don’t—You c-can’t—”

His eyes unfocused and his voice faded until it was almost inaudible. “I’ll always be with you, kitten. For as long as there are stars in the sky.”

And with that, his hand became limp, his eyes drifted closed, and his chest lay still beneath her.

“N-n-no!” Alex cried, clutching at him. “P-please, Niyx! You c-can’t leave me!”

But he didn’t move. He remained still under her hands.

Lifeless.

“N-no-no-no,” Alex whispered, her voice breaking as she wrapped her arms around him, heedless of how much more blood was soaking into her clothes. “No, p-please, no!”

But no matter how much she begged, no matter how many tears she cried, she couldn’t deny the truth.

Niyx was dead.

He’d given his life to save hers, protecting her until the very end.

Alex cried over Niyx’s body for hours.