Page 64 of Orc's Forbidden Claim

It takes a moment to realize it, but his lips are cool, much cooler than normal. I pull back and look into his eyes. They’re dull, not the normal bright swirls. And he’s pale. Too pale.

“Khiara?” my voice trembles.

He doesn’t answer, but pulls something out of his bag. He holds his hand out and in his palm is a dark, dried looking fungus.

“Make… tea…” Khiara says, weaving in place.

He blinks, shakes, then drops to the ground.

45

SAYLOR

“Help! I scream, bruising my knees as I drop next to him.

Wren rushes to my side. A blade protrudes from his back, next to his shoulder blade. The hilt looks like it’s made of smooth gray stone. Blood pools across his back. I reach for the blade but then stop.

“Pull it out,” Wren says, but I shake my head.

“No. I saw an old Earth vid once and it’s bad to pull it out. He’ll bleed out or something. Help!”

I try yelling again because no one has come.

“I’ll get help,” Wren says.

I nod, tears filling my eyes. Is this the way our story ends? After everything that’s happened, can this be it? I shift around until his head is in my lap. He’s breathing. That’s good. He’s so pale though. His skin is normally a rich green, almost emerald, but now it’s a pale shade that just looks sick.

Blood trickles across his back. Slow, steady, like him. My rock. The one thing I never knew I needed in my life. Helping Wren come to terms with falling for Sek’su should have prepared me for him, but it didn’t. Maybe that’s not the way hearts work. I run my fingers through his hair, letting my thoughts wander.

Helping someone else is easy. Helping yourself, that’s a whole lot harder. I’d been hiding him from everyone, including Wren, but now I can’t imagine why. It seemed important at the time. My reputation, my standing in our social circle, what my friends would think. Why? Why did I care about any of them?

My heart belongs to him. I’ve had no doubts of that. I knew the first moment we met. When I saw him and my breath caught in my chest as my heart sped up. Then we kept running into one another and I thought it was too often to be random. Only when we ended up alone did he admit that he’d done it. Following me, finding out where I’d be so he could be near.

I swear, from anyone else it would have been creepy. Or I would have filed him under one of the stupid paparazzi, but when he admitted to it… it was romantic. Maybe it was the way he said it. So shy, embarrassed even, unable to look me in the eyes as he spoke. Staring at the floor, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, saying what he’d done with darting glances to try and see how I was taking it.

“Oh Khiara,” I whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Regret swirls in my head. A whirlpool pulling me down. All the things I should have said. Things I should have done. None of which I did because I was too worried about others. Khiara shudders and stirs. His eyes flutter open as he gasps.

“Saylor,” he exhales my name and if he wasn’t likely dying in my lap, I’d be clay in his hands.

“Khiara, lie still, Wren is getting help.”

“No,” he says, pushing himself up.

His arms shake. His entire body trembles with the effort. He’s on his hands and knees, looking at me.

“Khi, lie down, please,” I beg.

He shakes his head, striving to get up, but then he groans and collapses onto his side.

“The fungus,” he says, looking around. “He needs it. Now.”

“You’re hurt,” I say.

I feel numb and out of touch with reality. All I want is to make Khiara be okay. Everything else is so secondary to that I cannot even begin to fully process it.

“Sek’su… needs… Saylor… please.”

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