Page 133 of Inflamed By an Incubus

Her great head twisted towards him, blazing golden eyes blinking at him as she opened her sharp beak and loosed a delicate ‘kek’ sound.

She recognised him then.

She had always called to him in that way when she had been in this form, all those years ago before they had been cursed.

Things could be that way again. All he had to do was kill her and they could be free of the pain, could have the forever they had always wanted together.

He held his palm out to her. “Come to me, love.”

She called again, only this time it was laced with pain as she beat her wings, remaining aloft in the air. She was close now, on the brink of succumbing to her fire.

“Come, my love.” He moved closer to her, recapturing her attention, and this time when she looked at him, he saw the hurt in her eyes.

The misery.

“I’ll take it away for you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse as tears filled his eyes. They shone in hers too, molten tears that blazed as bright as the sun as she drifted down to him. The flagstones sizzled and hissed as she set down, her talons sinking into them as the stone melted, and the heat she was throwing off grew stronger, finally piercing the shield of the spell to caress his flesh. Fenix sucked down a breath and stared into her eyes, all the love he felt for her beating in his heart, roaring in his soul. “Come to me.”

She bent her great head and pressed the curve of her beak to his palm, and glowing orbs of fire tumbled from her eyes as she closed them.

Her sorrow cut at him and he knew.

She was aware of what he was going to do.

Fenix closed his eyes and turned his head, bringing his lips close to her beak as she narrowed the distance between them.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Come back to me.”

He pressed a kiss to her beak.

And plunged the dagger into her heart.

Tears burned a trail down his cheeks as she sank against him, her heat scalding him at first as her heavy weight settled on his shoulder and he tried to hold on to her. He pulled the dagger from her chest and hurled it away from him, and caught hold of her with both arms as she rapidly chilled, the feel of her fire fading making him cold and hollow inside too, and her body swiftly transformed into her human form. He held her to him, clinging to her as a gulf opened inside him, and silently begged her for forgiveness and to come back to him.

He carried her to the softer grass and sank to his knees.

Cradled her to his chest as she drew her final breaths, tears cutting down his cheeks and his throat closing, making it impossible to breathe as he kissed her forehead and willed her to remember him.

A great shimmering violet dome cascaded down to cover them and the six other people he was deeply aware of as they approached him, but he didn’t take his eyes off her face as he anxiously waited.

“How long does it usually take?” Archer whispered, sounding as worried as Fenix felt as the minutes ticked past and Evelyn didn’t stir.

“Shh,” Rosalind hissed.

“Shh, yourself,” Archer muttered back at her. “It was a legitimate question.”

“She might need help,” Hartt said and shifted on Fenix’s senses, moving closer to his mate. “Do you think she can find her way?”

“Yes.” There was absolute faith in that word as it fell from Mackenzie’s lips. “She knows the way home.”

Home.

To him.

Fenix gazed at Evelyn’s slack, dirty face, clinging to their bond, hoping she could feel it and knew how deeply he loved her and how much he needed her to come back to him. She belonged with him. He was her home. She had told him that once, decades ago, had admitted that she had never truly felt as if she had a home but that she had found it in him.

He listened hard to her, straining to hear that first weak beat of her heart, willing the gods to make it happen for him.

Her chest bowed upwards, as if someone had attached an invisible string to the point between her bare breasts and was pulling her into the air.

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