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“I’m… tired.”

“You are not done.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s too… late anyway. I didn’t… pull out… the blade.”

I took in the dagger and brushed my fingers over it, feeling the element of iron. I’d already discerned that she was part Dark Fae, as well as being Wraith. Iron was a death sentence to Fae. Aware of her Wraith abilities, it was clear to me that ifshe’d pulled it out right away, she could have used that power to heal herself. But she’d left it in, allowing the infection to spread through her body.

I ran my fingers over her chest and she tensed.Of course.Touching there was also considered an intimate act. Curses! I wasn’t… familiar with that sort of thing. There was no… sexuality on the Celestial Plane.

“What’s your name?” I asked in a bid to take some of the awkwardness away.

“Velra… Velra Nox.”

I smiled. “Nice to meet you, Velra.”

That had some of the tension from my touch easing and she returned my smile with a strained one of her own.

I focused on the brown veins that were nearing her heart. So very near.

It was similar to the effects of a Celestial wound.

“It is not too late. If that is what you wish, I can pull you back from death. But we have mere moments before the iron poisoning reaches your heart.”

Her eyes shone at me. “Was it… true… what you… said? Am I… really… not… damned?”

“You are not,little shadow.”

She startled me then as she grasped my hand.

Her grip was weak, but the unexpected touch… it felt like it was burning through me.

It felt like she was clutching me in a forceful grip all over my being.

I suppose she was.

Because this… all of this… it wasn’t supposed to be.

Her captivating amethyst eyes flickered with so much emotion, and I saw a spark of hope there in amongst all the rest.

She moved to speak, and I found myself holding my breath for her answer, as I felt the weight of it, of another’s choice.

Such a profound choice, one that she was being forced to make while withering away, while in so much pain in all senses.

Her words didn’t come.

They couldn’t, because then her eyes fluttered closed and her hand went slack in mine.

Death coiled all around her, her light fading.

No.

I grasped the dagger and pulled it free, crushing it in my hand with a growl that could only be described as feral, a rage taking me that I’d never felt the likes of before.

Strong emotions didn’t compute.

And it took me over all too quickly due to the lack of defenses to something I’d never experienced in all my days.

It crumbled to kindling in my fingers.