Page 135 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

“Paige!Paige!”

My voice reverberates around me, like a disembodied echo. I clutch her desperately in my arms, looking down into her pale face. I reach for Oana’s dagger and I pull it out, tossing it aside with a clatter.

Behind me, I can hear Damien rush up the stairs. I catch a glimpse of Celine flying toward Oana out of my peripheral vision. But I don’t care.

“Paige,” I whisper, burying my face in her hair, listening for any hint of a heartbeat, the sound of a pulse, however faint…

But there’s nothing.

I bring my wrist to my mouth and bite down, hard. Thick blood gushes from my veins, and I put it to her mouth.

“Please, Paige,” I beg. “Itcan’tbe too late…”

But my blood spills over her lips. She doesn’t swallow.

“No, no,no…”

I embrace her limp form in my arms, holding onto her lingering warmth.

She still smells like roses. Sweet, subtle, perfect…

She died to protect me. Because she lovedme.

“I love you, too, Paige,” I tell her. I need to tell her, I need her to hear it. “Paige, I…Ialwaysloved you. It was always you. You’re perfect, Paige. Kind when I was cruel, gentle was I was hard…strong when I was weak. You knew that we were meant for each other and you fought for us. I never should have pushed you away. I was scared oflosing you, but…I was always meant to lose you. I should have told you when I had the chance, Paige. I’m…I’msorry.”

I hold her close to me, brushing a kiss across her pale forehead.

“I love you, Paige. I’llalwayslove you.”

But it’s too late. There’s no flutter of her long eyelashes, no quiver of her soft lips…just stillness. The kind of stillness that only death brings.

Celine touches down beside me on the platform. “Crimson…” she says, her voice as soft as I’ve ever heard it. “Damien chased Oana out of the staircase. But we have to go back to the others…”

“No,” I hiss, pulling Paige’s body close to mine. “No, I’m not leaving her.”

“She’s…she’sgone, Crimson,” Celine says. “I’m sorry, I know you cared for her…”

“I can’t be without her,” I answer, my throat tight. My chest aches with an unbearable, hollow emptiness. “Celine, I can’t exist without her.”

“There’s nothing else you can do,” she says, worry in her violet eyes. She kneels down in the pool of blood on the other side of Paige’s body.

And I’m struck with a sudden, bold determination.

“Thereissomething else I can do,” I tell her. My lips part as my fangs drop low over my chin.

Celine frowns, understanding what I mean. “I’ll help you,” she says.

It takes Celine and I a little while to drain Paige completely. While we’re working, Murad comes to find us. He almost shudders when he sees Paige’s body in my arms.

“What happened?” he asks.

“Oana killed her,” Celine answers.

“Allah allah,” he gasps, gazing down at us in shock. Then his nostrils flare when he sees what I’m doing. “Crimson, are you…?”

“Yes,” I answer coldly, putting a bloody wrist to Paige’s mouth.

“Are yousure?”