Page 100 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Rory stroked my hair as he shushed me. “I know. I know it hurts,” he said. “I know, sweetheart.”

I hadn’t turned. I was alive.

Rory held me, and I sighed into him, calmed by his familiar scent as my breathing slowed. I broke away and met his troubled gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. His hand slid down my temple to cradle my cheek in his palm. “This whole time I was fighting for you, and you never had any chance. Why not just tell me?”

“I was afraid,” he whispered, and my throat immediately choked up with emotion. “I was afraid that if you realized that I was a lost cause, then you would leave. It was stupid and selfish of me to keep it from you, I know that. But I wasn’t ready to let you go.” Rory swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing sharply with the motion. “Trust me, Vain tried to convince me that I should tell you. But I just couldn’t. I know that I should have, and I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Ava.”

His eyes flickered downward, but I drew his watery gaze back up to mine. “You were never a lost cause.”

“I thought we lost you,” he breathed. Drawing my hand up to his lips, he pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened to you.”

A warmth pulled in my chest as I stared at him. And even as I knew that there may never be any hope left of saving him as I once intended, I felt contented in the realization that what we had—the three of us together—was enough. No matter how long Rory had, until there was nothing left of his mind and all that remained was Vain, I was ready to spend every last second of that time appreciating every moment.

I’d never known a happiness quite like this before them. There’d never been a sense of acceptance and belonging like what they offered. And for once in my miserable life, I didn’t want to push it away any longer. I deserved to be happy. I deserved to feel wanted. To be loved.

To even call it love was terrifying, but there was no denying the emotion that stirred in me was exactly that. Ignoring it was no longer an option.

I opened my mouth, struggling to form the words I so desperately needed to say to alleviate the knot twisting in my heart, but a deafening boom crashed through the penthouse before I could, and it felt as if the entire foundation of the building shook with the sound. A scream tore from my throat instead, and Rory threw his body overtop of mine, tucking me tightly to his chest.

Both of us jerked as another boom and then another sounded again in violent rhythmic succession. The air crackled and I could feel the threads of magic and the energy of the wards shattering with every tremor that rocked around us.

Rory pulled his face out of the crook of my neck, and his eyes filled to black.

“Vain, what’s happening?”

He stared down at me, our foreheads pressed together and our racing heartbeats keeping pace with each other. Our attention shifted at the same time when Nesera whipped around the corner and flew into the room, decked to the nines in her fighting leathers and her scimitars fisted in both hands.

“He’s here,” she yelled over the thunderous roar of another ominous crack that tore at the wards. “He’s almost broken through them all.”

Vain looked back at me, and I recognized the panic shimmering behind his eyes in a way I had only seen once before.

“Ava, what was the name of the demon you summoned that killed your sister?”

I grew faint all over again. “Vain, I—”

“Did you ever properly banish them after they were summoned?”

“He wasn’t—” I stammered. “I couldn’t—”

He clasped both hands around my arms and gripped them tightly. “Were you the one who banished him?”

“No!”

“Who was the demon?” he demanded. “Tell me his name.”

I held the answer at the tip of my tongue, but I could see in Vain’s eyes that he already knew the demon’s name long before I said it.

“Ghen.”

TWENTY-NINE

Rory

“Nesera,” Vain said, his tone soft and urgent at once. “Where is Alastair?”

“The terrace. He’s keeping the wards up as best he can, but they won’t hold for much longer.”

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