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Her bracelet! While she lives, she’s still bound by her vows. I’m not above exploiting them. “You will not die,” I command. My magic flows out of me, and one bead begins to fade…then another and another. She draws in a shuddering gasp. “Des, what are you doing?” she asks, breathless. “Saving you.” And by the gods, it’s working. Row after row of beads disappears. Take them all, just bring her back to me.
I’m no healer, but if the magic took, then something should’ve improved. But it doesn’t. And then, with a whoosh, the whole thing reverses. The magic slams back into my body, sending me backward, and the beads begin to reform one by one. Nooooo!
Minutes I do not have. I look back down at Callie. My mate is fading so fast. Too fast. This is the moment I’ve dreaded since I met Callie. The moment I lose her. I’d rather do something unforgivable to keep her alive than let her slip quietly into death. Something unforgivable… “Mara, where is the wine? The—the lilac wine.” The Flora queen looks up from her own dead mate, her eyes dull. “The royal cellar,” she mumbles,
I promised my mate that I’d protect her from this side of myself, the selfish, immoral side. I lied. The thing is, I’m both a fairy and the son of a tyrant king; I’ve descended, undoubtedly, from demons. Wickedness is in my blood.
Callie’s face is ashen, her skin already cold. Her pulse is a weak, fluttery thing. I’ll take my mate’s mortality from her just as I have always imagined. Bringing the bottle to her lips, I tip the lilac wine into her unresponsive mouth. Using a little of my magic, I force her throat to swallow it. I pour it all down, every last drop, my hand never once wavering.
Never should have brought her here. Never should have rekindled what we had. Never should’ve entered her life in the first place. It’s a peculiar kind of agony, knowing the love of your life would be alive if not for you. Loving her enough to want that life for her even if it means erasing all that you had together. Because then, at least, she’d still be alive.
Only death or repayment can fulfill a bargain. Death or repayment. Death. Fear—true, heart-crushing, sweat-inducing fear—flows through me. She really is leaving me. A chasm inside me opens, and it’s filled with all my pain, all my dread, all the suffering I’ve borne throughout these long centuries. I let out a choked cry and run my hand down the side of Callie’s face,
I lean over Callie’s body, drawing in several ragged breaths. I search her features. I’ve been around archaic magic long enough to know when it’s at work—as it is now. Seconds later Callie’s chest rises then falls, rises then falls. It worked. Gods’ hands, it worked. Callie’s alive.
She’s alive, and she’s mine. Really, truly, entirely mine. I rub my chest, right where my heart cradles our completed connection. My broken wings fan wide with my triumph, and I don’t even register the pain through my elation. She’s not mortal, not any longer, but everlasting. Her magic and mine sing together through our bond. Nothing—nothing—has ever felt this good.
“You gave her the wine,” Mara murmurs from where she crouches. I nod, not bothering to glance away from my mate. “Any regrets?” she asks. “I would do it again a thousand times over.” Wrongs can be forgiven. It’s death that one cannot return from. Mara’s final words linger in the air between us: “Let’s hope she feels the same way.”
How could I possibly recover from such a wound? I don’t feel terribly different, all things considered. That is, except… My hand goes to my heart. I gasp when I feel a tug that has nothing to do with the beat of it. Being a soul mate means being connected by a very real magical cord. I’ve known this, and yet it’s only now that I truly understand. I feel the bond beneath my rib cage, reaching out across the world and connecting me with Des.
At the sight of him, my body blooms with excitement. “Des—we’re bonded.” His entire face breaks into a smile. “We are.” I touch my abdomen. “And you healed me.” Everything about me thrums with life. I feel new and powerful in the most exquisite way.
I remember Des demanding I live. I still feel the phantom fingers of his magic trying to bar me from death. But it didn’t work. I remember that. I felt it when his magic released me. And yet here I am—alive. My gaze cuts to my bracelet. All that stares back at me is my bare forearm. For eight years, I wore it, and now it’s gone. I run my hand over my wrist. “Where is it?” “You fulfilled the rest of your repayment last night.” By living, he means. “But it didn’t work.” “I found another…alternative.”
“What alternative?” His silver gaze searches my own. Have you heard that lilac wine, the rarest of fairy elixirs, can not only bestow longevity to mortals, it can heal the wounded?
“There was only one way,” Des says. I’m already shaking my head, a wave of dread washing over me. “No,” I whisper. It’s a cure-all of sorts, and if you drink it…your soul could be mine for the taking. “I gave you lilac wine.” The normally remorseless Bargainer is beseeching me with his eyes to understand. “I couldn’t let you die.” Do the dead ever really die?
All that dark magic the Thief wields can now be used against me. I’m more vulnerable as an immortal than I ever was as a regular human. And the Thief of Souls knows it. I’m still coming for you. Your life is mine.
The sacred oaks groan, their branches swaying as a network of vines retreats from their inner membranes. A crack forms along one of the glass coffins, spider-webbing across the transparent surface. Wood splinters down the center of an oak. A devilish child smiles. And then, as one, several thousand eyes snap open. The time has come.
