Page 117 of A Dawn Of Blood

“Cain—”

He grabs me by the wrists and pulls my hands away from him, speaking with alarming urgency. “You need to listen to me, Anna. Kill me while you can. Take the knife and slit my throat.”

My eyes round in shock. “No,” I say with a vigorous shake of my head.

“Yes, you absolutely have to. You just need to kill me and he’ll die with me.”

The words make me want to slap him. “I love you, Cain,” I reply angrily. “I love you more than anything in this world. So no, I’m not going tokillyou.”

“I won’t be able to resist him much longer, Anna. And believe me when I say, it’s the only way to make things right again.”

I grit my teeth and pull my hands out of his grip. “If your death is the price I need to pay to make things right… I’ll sooner let the world burn.”

To my surprise, he gives me a sad smile. “Remember what you told me, about love being worth all the pain?”

“I do,” I reply, but I’m hesitant because I’m expecting him to somehow turn it against me.

He looks away, turning pensive. “I haven’t exactly lived a happy life, Anna, but Ididthink I was doing it right. Untilyoucame along and nothing seemed to make sense any longer. I tried resisting it, I tried so hard, but you made me see exactly how wrong I had it. Most of all, you made me see I was wrong when I thought there was nothing in this world I truly feared. Because there was one thing I feared so much, I could never even let it close to the surface.”

He turns his eyes back onto me and I watch them fill with tears. “I feared that I really was unworthy of any kind of connection.”

“You’re not, Cain—”

He waves a hand in dismissal. “I know. I know. I trust you and I love you, more than anything in this world. And I want to live, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and only you, but… More than anything else, I wantyouto live and be happy. And this is the only way I can make that happen.”

The heartbreak in his eyes makes me want to scream. “We’ll find another way, Cain,” I urge him.

“Don’t be angry with me,” he pleads. “You say love is worth all the pain it can bring, butourlove… I remember it all now.I remember how, as Jericho, I built a home for you that I was going to show you on our first anniversary. I remember how, as Orpheus, I kept a journal as a way of sharing my life with you even after you were long gone.”

He gives me another sad smile. “And now, as Cain, I’ll die so you can live and save all the people you care about.”

Now starting to sob, I shake my head.

He pulls me into a hug and holds me tight. “That’s the extent of our love, Anna,” he whispers into my ear, “it knows no bounds, no space bounds, no time bounds. So please, just let me do this for you. Please, my love.”

It’s then that he starts spasming again, much more violently this time. And I know what I need to do.

I take the knife out of my pocket and raise my hand to his heart. Tears running down my face, I say, “I love you. I’ll mourn you till the day I die and then I’ll be born again and I won’t rest until I find you again.”

And with that, I stab him in the heart.

He winces then smiles. “Just one last kiss before I go,” he mumbles.

I give him a long, deep kiss.

When I pull away, barely holding on, he lets his eyes roam over my face with that sad smile still curling his lips. “Now I can truly say it was all worth it. I can die a happy man.”

It seems to work, at least judging by the fact Baldur’s magic stops keeping everyone paralyzed.

He’s dead.

But then I see Cain’s eyes close as well. I hug him tight and start sobbing uncontrollably.

Chapter 82

It’s the sound of breathing that makes me abruptly stop sobbing. I lift my head and fling my eyes open just as Dryden rushes over and gets on his knees next to us.

Holding my breath, I don’t let go of Cain’s body, but I do allow Dryden to check his pulse.

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