Page 85 of Obsidian Prince

The pained tension vanished. His soul washed clean of pain. At least, he no longer hurt. His aura shifted to a warm, contented sunflower yellow.

Alexander’s calm face regarded her from his one functioning eye where they lay. “Were you in time?” His thumb stroked her cheek.

“I am not certain.”

“Kiss me, then. If I’m going to die in minutes, that’s how I want to spend the time.”

Liliana kissed him.

He kissed her right back. His lips and tongue tasted of blood, but he was warm. His mouth covered hers to claim her like he wanted to mark her as his forever. His hand in her hair angled her head just right so he could kiss her more deeply, the blocky bracelet bumped heavy and cold against her throat.

She watched his contentment flood with red passion that flared white at the center for a moment, like the rose he gave her.

His hand fell lax from her hair. The colors of his soul faded to dim flickers.

She sat up and looked down on him with her second eyes. Heat still shone in a nameless color that wasn’t red on one side of his head. She didn’t know if she’d saved him or not.

She carefully kept her fourth eyes closed. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to see.

She scooted back on her arms and one leg into the corner then wrapped her arms around her knees. She put her face down. There was no more she could do. She let herself shut down. Time went away. Fear, pain. For a while at least, all of it went away.

Chapter23

Love And Trust

When she came backto herself, the room was full of people.

Zoe was on her knees, two fingers on Alexander’s throat. She paused there for a long moment. Everyone in the room fell silent.

Liliana had seen this. Her eyes felt hot. She knew what came next.

“He’s alive,” Zoe said.

Liliana blinked and the hot tears that had been welling in her eyes rolled down her cheeks. “Wait.” She blinked again, hope blooming like a painful warmth in the ice of her chest. “What did you say?” Her trembling voice was so tiny, she wasn’t sure Zoe would hear her.

The sergeant looked at her in the corner. “He’s alive,” she repeated firmly. “Pulse is strong. He should be coming around any minute.”

“He’s alive.” Liliana repeated it softly to herself. She’d been in time. Her venom healed him. “Officer West?”

“We found him,” Zoe said. “Detective Jackson took him straight to Womack Medical.”

Liliana closed her eyes again, a feeling of relief flooding through her. “My leg hurts.”

Zoe chuckled. “I’ll call Nudd.”

An hour or more of too many people in the small room later, Liliana sat on the ledge outside the glassless window, hiding from the bustle.

Alexander woke in the midst of a pair of military EMT’s and a cluster of soldiers, all worried about him. He started issuing orders within seconds of regaining consciousness.

Without leaving her perch, Liliana used her fourth eyes to watch that one part of all the bustling that mattered to her.

Zoe Giovanni saluted Alexander when the EMT’s stopped fussing. They kept telling him how lucky he was that his head injury wasn’t more than a mild concussion and urging him to go to Womack Medical Center to get checked. He nodded to them politely and ignored their advice.

“Sergeant,” Alexander said solemnly when he saw Zoe. “I thought you were heading out on leave.”

“Yes, sir. I was, but Anna needed to get to you as fast as possible. My car was closest.”

“You probably saved my life,” he said softly. “If Liliana arrived even a few minutes later, I’d have been a dead man.”

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