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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 if she’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.

And then I hovered my hand over the wound, my white power burning bright.

It wasn’t enough.

She was already straddling the line between life and death.

It required more.

A great deal more.

Hesitation wasn’t an option.

A moment longer and I would be unable to reach her without pulling back the veil between the living and the dead.

It required a tether.

I straddled her, pressing one hand to her heart, and the other directly over her wound.

And then I pulled on my power, and poured my Celestial Light into her, destroying the infection at the site of the wound and coursing it through her body, while my other sparked with my white lightning, to restart her heart that had just ceased to beat.

I kept my hand tight to her wound even as her body jolted beneath me from the magical electrical current I was afflicting her with.

On the third rush of lightning, I felt it—the beat of her heart.

She lurched up, drawing in a long, choking breath, her eyes shooting wide.

Clearly in a state of shock, she bucked, trying to move away, but if I allowed it, the infection would not be healed, and she would die once again.

I pressed my hand to her back and gathered her to me with one arm, holding her steady, cradled against my chest, as I continued pouring my Light into her wound.

“Be still, little shadow,” I spoke into her hair. “You will be well in moments.”

“I… it burns.”

“Painfully?” It was my first time doing anything like this.

“No… a different kind of burn.”

Oh.

She wasn’t strained in speaking anymore, but there was a different sort of struggle, and with what she seemed to be conveying, it appeared to be arousal.

I didn’t know what to do with that.

But then she lifted her hands, careful not to impact my healing of her abdomen as she did, and her fingers clutched at my shoulders, little moans escaping her that warmed me in ways I couldn’t deny I found… favorable.

“God,” she breathed.

How ironic.

“I’m sorry to inflict this upon you.”

“You’re saving me.”

“I didn’t know it would come with these… side effects.”

“It’s okay,” she murmured softly.

Her fingers trembled and she tightened her grip. I looked down to see her cheeks heating also. Those little moans continued, moving between those and pants.

Needy, gloriously titillating.

And wholly undeniable.

I felt my Light complete the healing process, flushing out the poison in its entirety.

I removed my hand from the now sealed wound and lifted my fingers to beneath her chin, guiding her heavy-lidded gaze to mine.

She stared at me, still panting, still clutching my shoulders, and I felt her hold tightening, her strength returning. She certainly had some might to her. “Thank you,” she breathed.

“I had to tether you. There may be repercussions.”

“Tether me?”

“You had already begun to slip away. To spare you, I had to pull you back while you were in transition from life to death.”

“That’s… I don’t know what to do with that.” She beamed up at me and clasped my wrist that was still holding her chin for some reason.

I should have let go once I’d had her rapt attention for what I needed to convey to her. But… the feel of her… the warmth… the spark that bled into me in a way I didn’t understand… it had me wanting to remain.

In this position.

Holding her.

Touching her.

Breathing in her lavender scent and feeling that frost whispering in the air between us as she spoke, an aspect of her Wraith side that was incredibly endearing.

She winced then, shifting on me, and then to my regret, she pulled away from me.

And then she was looking down at the site of her wound.

A gasp escaped her and a similar reaction betook me as I saw something branding itself on her skin.

Two jagged lines intersected, one a glimmering white—the mark of my power, and the other a vibrant amethyst tinged with black flecks—the mark of hers.

“Is this one of those repercussions?” she asked, gazing down at it, before her gaze flicked back to mine in question.

“It would appear so. The tether connects us.”

“Connects us how?”

A rush of power rolled through me.

I reached out with my senses, identifying it as belonging to several beings.

Ryker Morgan was returning, and the Guardians were amassing, moments away from swarming the Compound.

“You will be well, little shadow,” I said, easing her to her feet, before releasing her and stepping back.

I went to leave, to tend to Ariana—my mission—but her fingers brushing mine stilled me.

“At least tell me your name,” she beseeched me. “You already have mine.”

I smiled. “Cassius.”

In the next moment, I rose up into the air.

As I did, I caught sight of a familiar figure hidden by some brush, close to where I had been moments ago healing her.

I zeroed in on him, before I let my wings carry me any higher.

Nyx Laryn.

One of Ariana’s loves.

I gritted my teeth. This certainly complicated things.

Although, not more than the fact that I’d just violated Celestial Law by saving her.

Velra Nox.

Little shadow.