Page 118 of Obsidian Dream

Chapter Fifty-Five

KHALIDA

Everything slowed down, until all that was left was her and Talik.The rest of the world could be damned.

She dragged herself to him, moving the dirt, leaves, and everything else that had fallen on top of him.She placed her head on Talik’s chest, cradling him.She scrambled to find a hint of a heartbeat, a small gasp of breath.

Anything that would mean he was alive.

She hit his chest and replaced her head on his heart, willing him to breathe.

But she got nothing.

“No.”Her heart shattered into a million fragmented pieces as tears streamed down her face.“Please, Talik.”Her body shook and her throat constricted as she struggled to say the words.Shock threatened to take over, but she didn’t dare give in.“Please, Talik.Don’t do this.”

She moved his hands from his chest—red sticky blood drenched hers.It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been there when Talik had been injured, she may as well have been delivering the blows.He was only there because of her.Khalida scooted around him, gently picking up his head as she closed his eyes.

“Bring him back!”Khalida yelled.

No one answered her.

Slamming her hand on the ground next to Talik’s head, she wanted to scream into the abyss—demand the world stop in its track.But that wasn’t how the world worked.Around her, the world continued on.The tourists were slowly coming awake, their voices growing increasingly louder with each passing second.

Now it was too late.

She held her trembling hand next to where his beating heart should have been and felt nothing.Lowering herself, so she lay curled around Talik, she breathed in his scent, imprinting it on her mind.Her head on his chest, she held up her wrist and stared at the empty space where the consort mark had been.Whatever Talik had bargained with, he had ensured that she would not follow him in death.And now she was alive, and the world had lost its vibrancy and color, and all she had left was this nightmarish existence.Alive but not living.

Kade had the relic.He would ensure that it remained out of Ninhursag’s hands.And now, Khalida had nothing else to live for.

The wounds were too deep.His flesh had been cut up, as if he was a toy.Talik hadn’t been able to heal fast enough and had succumbed to the injuries.

She opened her mouth to scream, but all she could let out was a hoarse whisper that vibrated through her body.It was far more painful than any scream she had ever been able to muster.

Around her, she could barely hear the chaos that had descended around them.Humans were yelling as they were coming to, the sirens in the background pierced the air.But she didn’t care.Nothing else mattered as she held on to Talik’s hand, wishing for the impossible—knowing she would never be whole again, nor did she want to be.Her heart hurt.Each breath was agonizing pain that she hadn’t felt in centuries, not since Sidra’s death.And this time, there was no one else to share the pain.Or the memories.

No.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Talik had cheated death more than any other Atlantean she had known—he had centuries left to live.

She held on to Talik’s lifeless body, trying to shake him awake as everything began to feel numb, and the world continued to lose its color and vibrancy.Again.He couldn’t be gone.One second, he was taunting the wayfarers, and then he was on the ground, bleeding from wounds she knew no one would survive.Even an Atlantean.

A shadow appeared over her.She shielded her eyes as she glared at the intruder, trying to identify who dared come near her.

Desert-colored hair gleamed in the sunlight, casting a bright halo around his head.

Lucien.