Page 59 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

Paige

I’m having the most wonderful dream.

I’m dreaming that I’m in Crimson’s coffin with her, wrapped up in her strong arms.

It’s amazing. I’m enveloped in a warm, lovely feeling of contentment. Of being seen. Of being cared for. Of being loved.

I know, somehow, that it can’t be possible.

I know that this is only a dream, only a fleeting, impossible, dream…

But I wish it would last forever.

I wish I could stay here forever.

And then, suddenly…

I can’t breathe.

I gasp for air, but I can’t breathe. My lungs fill with dust, and I choke. My body spasms and terror overwhelms me. Where am I? What’s happening?

I try to scream for help, but my mouth is full of dirt. I try to move, but my limbs are stuck.

Panic seizes me, and my head spins from the lack of oxygen.

And I feel two strong hands grab me, pulling me up…

Pulling me through…

Through the earth?

My head breaks through the ground, and wonderful, cold air fills my chest. We’re outside somewhere, under a tapestry of bright stars. I cough up dirt, desperately sucking oxygen into my lungs.

Crimson pulls me up and out of the ground. Her face is covered in dirt, her eyes red and wide with amazement.

“You’re…you’re alive,” she gasps. She puts a hand on my chest, against my pounding heart. “How is that possible?”

I recover from my coughing. “I…I don’t know,” I say, with a hoarse voice. “What happened? The last thing I remember is Oana…” I get a sudden flash of the dagger, sticking out of my chest. “Oh my god…”

“You died, Paige,” Crimson explains, bringing a chilly finger up to wipe the earth from my cheek.

“I what?” My hands go immediately to my chest, trying to find my heartbeat. But I’m definitely breathing. It doesn’t make any sense.

She continues, dark eyebrows low over her red eyes. “Murad, Celine and I tried to turn you into a vampire. We buried you in the ground…”

I look around. There’s a mound of soft earth below us. Crimson and I are both covered in dirt, three discarded shovels beside us.

And we’re not alone. Surrounding us is a circle of wide-eyed vampires, gazing at me with open mouths. Murad and Sabina are there, and Celine and Renata.

“How did I get back up?” I ask, although I think I already know the answer.

Celine steps forward, looking at me like she’s witnessed a miracle. “Crimson buried herself with you,” she says. “She pulled you back up, just now.”

I turn back to Crimson. She’s looking down at me in that familiar way. Like she’s remembering me. Like she’ll never look away.

“You saved me,” I whisper.

“You saved me first,” she answers. Then she wraps her arms around me, bending down so her lips caress my forehead. “And I’m never going to lose you again. I promise you.”

Happiness blossoms in my chest, and I press into her, warm tears pooling in my eyes.

I don’t know what happened, and I don’t understand it.

But I don’t care.

All I care is that I’m with her. That I’m always going to be with her.

“I love you, Roslyn Night.”

“I love you, Paige. My sweet rose.”