Page 64 of Bitten By Desire

Chapter 22

A Wish Fulfilled

A blue portal opened in the center of the room, and Zoe stepped through, face ashen as she located me. I hurried toward her.

“You need to come now,” Zoe said, reaching for me. “It’s Julian. We gave him blood, but he isn’t getting better like he should. Lydia is with him and gave some of hers, but he’s still barely conscious, and his wounds are only partially stitching together.”

She tugged at my arm, but I may as well have turned to stone. The changeling had caught him before he was able to feed again. She’d hurt him so badly that she’d rushed the process as she said she’d wanted to. And I still had no clue how to treat him using science.

It had never failed me before. I couldn’t let him die. Not now. Not after all we’d been through when we finally had our chance to be together. The vision of him dropping to his knee on the hillside in France—the genuine smile on his face.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and onto the floor as Zoe continued to try and pry me into the portal.

“Send me to the fae realm,” I said, and she stopped tugging.

“What? Have you lost your mind?”

I didn’t have time to argue, nor did I want to. So, I put my magic into the words as I repeated myself. “Send me to the fae realm.”

She opened the portal, and I stepped through, landing smack in the center of the queen’s throne room, where I found her alone once more.

“I’ve come to make a deal,” I said, my voice echoing around the chamber as she rose.

“I’ve killed your changelings. But I will come serve you willingly if you save Julian’s life.”

The queen stayed still, save for tilting her head slightly in consideration. “Those are your terms?”

I took a breath. “Let’s be specific,” I said. “Remove the silver from his body—all traces of it, and then heal him. In return, I will…I will come turn myself in to you in twenty-four hours.”

The queen tittered, and I ground my teeth in response.

“That’s two favors from me to one of yours. I give you an extra day and heal your vampire?” What else do you offer?”

Stiffening, I clenched my fists to my sides. “That’s not enough for you? What is it you want?”

“I want you to try on my collar,” she said, running a finger down a spike of quartz on her chair.

“You’ll have more than me in the deal,” I countered. “You’ll be able to renege on your bargain with Bres.”

“That’s incidental,” the queen said, and the room shook beneath me. “Your vampire has little time left. What is your decision?”

“I agree to your terms,” I said, bowing my head and trying to hold back the cascade of trembling and tears that threatened when I thought about what I’d just done.

But I told myself nothing mattered but Julian, and I found I could breathe easier even as I felt the cold weight of the thing clasp around my throat, tight enough to be uncomfortable, yet not enough to strangle me.

The queen sat back on her throne, admiring her work, and snapped. I was pulled through time and space, landing hard on the bedroom floor of Hazel’s cottage, beside the bed where Julian sat, back to the headboard, bare chest and torso showing with no blemishes. His bright indigo eyes stared at me as I climbed to my feet, relief coursing through me.

“What have you done?” he asked quietly as Lydia, who’d been standing in the corner, silently evacuated the room.

“I did what I had to,” I said through a laugh and all the tears that finally released.

“You bargained with her.” It was a statement, not a question. I guessed Zoe had told them all where I’d gone.

“You would have done the same for me,” I snapped. “Remember? We should be allowed to make sacrifices if that’s what we choose. You were sacrificing plenty. The pain you were in alone?—”

I was cut off by Julian’s mouth on mine, his kiss fervent as he backed me against the bed, knocking me down and climbing over me. I’d stopped arguing, breathing heavily as his gaze held me captive and something unraveled inside of me.

“How much time do we have?” he asked, sliding his hand up my side to caress my breast.

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