Page 122 of Seared Fates

“What are you doing?” I demand.

“To make mages immortal, they need a magic symbol carved into their flesh. Right to the bone. All I had were tattoos,” Apollo says, ignoring my growling and nodding to the Forget-Me-Nots over his arms, shoulders and neck. “Like you, I didn’t know what I was. And like you, I couldn’t stop drawing a strange pattern. Even inked it into my flesh, hidden between petals…”

The birds stopped singing, and the only sound is Rurik’s heavy breathing.

“When I died, I had to wait until that strange pattern tattooed onto my skin had settled into my bones.” A blankness fades into Apollo’s eyes, and he says, voice so low it’s hard to hear, “It was dark where I waited.”

Rurik lets out a long, horror-filled exhale. “You were aware inside the coffin the whole time?”

Lucero curses. “How long?”

Apollo doesn’t reply; instead, he runs his fingers over the purple Script on Kai’s leather jacket, the one that’s painted on the breast.

“How do I get Kai back?” I ask, holding myself back from grabbing the other vampire and shaking him.

Apollo's gaze flicks up. “The same rules apply with demons. Even half-demons.”

He waits, holding the dagger to Kai’s chest.

The blade is plain, but all I see is its lethal point aimed at my world. Apprehension nibbles at the desire to have Kai back, my jaw hurting as I work it back and forth.

“He’s suffered so much already,” I tell Apollo. Miserable, pleading. “Hasn’t Kai given enough blood?”

The knife in Apollo’s hand doesn’t waver, but when he says, “One more time,” his voice trembles.

My shoulders drop.

I bow down and press my lips onto Kai’s cold forehead.

“Only soft things for you once this is all done, little prince.”

I draw back, and without another word, Apollo slices into Kai’s chest. I want to bare my fangs with each line carved, my white-knuckled fists trembling at my side. Luckily, Apollo is quick and pulls away from Kai once he’s done. A swirling symbol, like a triangle with horns, carved into his ashen skin over his heart.

“Now what?” I ask, throat dry.

“Not long now.” Apollo sits on his heels, watching over my mate. “I’m sorry, Rurik, that I keep forgetting you.”

Rurik drops to his knees next to Apollo, ghost white and tears in his eyes. “I am so sorry, little star. I had no idea what you were. I should’ve…I…”

Apollo lies his head on Rurik’s shoulder, a peace settling over the little vampire. “You have nothing to be sorry for, you didn’t know.”

Rurik circles Apollo in an embrace. Face a ruin of wretched sadness.

“I’m going to forget again when Kai wakes up. My memories—I… they hurt too much to remember. All that darkness, Rurik, the silence…The things that scratched against the coffin’s walls…”

“It’s okay,” Rurik whispers, burying his nose in Apollo’s hair and breathing him in. “Forget me, little star. Be happy and forget me.”

“I’ve missed you so much,” the little vampire tells Rurik.

My attention drops to Kai, where he lies on my lap, giving the two as much privacy as I can spare while I wait.

Soon, I’ll introduce Kai to my sons, and we’ll adopt a horde of children. He’ll give me a tattoo. Maybe he’ll even get one himself.

Soon…

“Please come back to me, Kai…”

What will I do if he doesn’t?