Page 46 of Queen of Wrath

“I can't say. I just need help.” He seemed to be struggling to breathe, pressing his hand into his chest to stop the bleeding.

I could see that the wound there was too deep. It would take a miracle potion to heal this kind of injury.

“Why would someone try to kill you? And why didn't you go home? Surely you’d have a better stock of potions than me?” The questions tumbled from me as I pulled my robes off to wrap them into a bundle and press to his chest.

“This happened at my home.” He panted and hissed as I pressed the material harder against his deep wound. “I came here because you’re the only person I can trust to heal me.”

Trust… He trusts me?

A wave of guilt washed over me, but I halted it in its tracks immediately. How can I be so foolish? He has no remorse for what he did to me?

This had been the plan all along. To ruin his life. I knew that.

“I'm going to go into the kitchen to get my pouch. I need you to keep pressure on this for me,” I ordered and waited until he nodded weakly, but he placed his hand over mine, keeping me in place.

I looked down, watching how his shaking fingers desperately clung to mine. He held me so fiercely that my heart fluttered for a moment.

“Thank you, Emma…”

Hearing him say my alias jolted me back into reality.

I jumped to my feet, and ran to the kitchen, slipping on the blood that had already pooled in my entryway. I grabbed my potion pouch sitting on my kitchen counter and rushed back.

Then a thought crossed my mind, and I stopped by the kitchen threshold.

My eyes followed the crimson footprint over to Jax, whose life was slipping away from him.

His breathing was slowing down.

The color was fading from his face.

He was dying.

This is it. I can end his miserable life right now by doing nothing. All I have to do is wait a little while longer, and I’ll have my revenge…

This is what I’ve wanted for so long.

Why was I hesitating then?

My throat felt tight, and my palms clammy.

My heart raced in my chest, urging me to save him.

Why? I want him dead! Dead! All I need to do is nothing!

The oceans of rage I had drowned in for almost two decades suddenly seemed like a drop in a vast ocean. Other feelings still lingered…ones I hadn’t thought I was still capable of having.

That aside, was that the kind of person I wanted to be?

Could I just stand by and watch him die?

Would I feel like I’ve gotten justice knowing I could have done something to save him but didn’t?

My feet began to move before my mind made the decision.

The next thing I knew, I knelt beside him and started going through my potion pouch for something that would help.

You deserve to suffer, Jax Ransom. For what you’ve done, absolute agony and despair should follow you for a thousand lifetimes!

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