Page 47 of A Song of Death and Desire

Chapter 45

Imoan as I stretch out my limbs, relishing the small pops of the releasing tension that was caused by my contorted position. Without opening my eyes, I roll over and reach for Kairi with the need to feel the warmth of her skin against mine again, despite being wrapped around her all night. However, my arm only finds empty space and I open my groggy eyes to see that the bed is empty. My stomach churns with the thought that maybe she left me alone in bed because she regrets what we did. Perhaps she felt the same blurring lines that I did and isn’t happy that we are venturing into a territory that is more than just sex. Or… maybe she’s just gone to the bathroom.

I quickly pull myself out of bed to find her, determined to have a conversation but she’s not in the bathroom. A brief look around the apartment tells me she isn’t anywhere in here. It’sstill far too early in the morning for her to have gone to work and Kairi rarely leaves to go anywhere else.So where is she?

I pace the length of my apartment while I filter through possibilities of where she could be. My gut tells me something is wrong, and I know I won’t be able to settle until I find her. I’m certain she didn’t mention having to do anything today. Maybe she went to the beach to be by the water. Maybe she went for a walk to clear her head.

No.I still, horror washing over me. She didn’t go for a walk to clear her head or find somewhere to relax. She went to Vala. Echoes of her words from last night play through my mind.

“It’s all my fault.”

“Every time I try to make things better, I just end up making them worse.”

Fuck.

Kairi holds a lot of guilt for everything that happened, and I haven’t made things any easier on her. I’ve seen the way that she’s beginning to care about me. But I didn’t expect her to try and fix things on her own. Especially not after I told her I’ll stand by her. I can’t believe she would do something as reckless as face Vala without a plan.

I get dressed in record time and use my car to speed to the location of Vala’s cave. When I arrive at the cliff, I call out Kairi’s name, hoping that I’m not too late because I can’t picture Vala being receptive to any intervention from Kairi.Please let her be safe.

At the edge, I look down and a cry escapes me when I see Kairi below laying on the ground unmoving. I can’t see if she is alive but even at this distance, I can tell that she is injured.

“I’m coming, Kairi,” I call out, offering reassurance in the hope that she is conscious and can hear me.

Without paying any attention to my body’s movements, I scale the cliff face, my only thoughts on the woman below and how I’ll never forgive myself if she is dead.

I race to her, pulling her into my arms and pushing her hair back so that I could see her face. I exhale in relief when I see her chest moving and feel the soft breaths escaping her lips. She’s alive. Blood covers her skin coming from scratches and cuts on every part of her that I can see. Most don’t look too deep, but they must be causing her agony.

“Kairi. Kairi, my love, my vicious one, wake up for me, okay? I need to know you’re okay,” I murmur in her ear as I stroke her hair and wipe blood off her face.

She lets out a soft whimper at my words.

“That’s it my love, open those beautiful eyes for me.” Her eyelids flicker and after a moment, she does as I asked.

“There you are my vicious one,” I say, smiling down at her.

She begins to cry, sobs shaking her body as she holds on tightly to me like she’s afraid that I may disappear. “You came for me?” she questions through her tears.

“Of course. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m quite fond of you. Although, to be fair, I don’t think I had really figured it out myself.” She lets out a small laugh, a hint of a smile on her face.

“There’s my Kairi,” I praise. “Can you move?”

She stretches out her body, wincing with each movement. “I can move. The cuts sting but nothing is broken.”

“Did Vala do this?” I ask.

“No, it was her asshole birds. She let me go but they attacked me on the way out.” She slumps over, looking at the floor in front of her. “Vala wouldn’t take another bargain. I asked what she wanted in exchange for no longer taking the humans, but she laughed and said I was useless to her. I’m sorry I couldn’t fix this.”

My heart breaks for her. She put herself in danger to save people she doesn’t know. If I hadn’t already realized that my first impressions of her were incorrect, this would convince me. She may have killed people, but she is not a monster. She has a bigger heart than many humans I know.

“Shh,” I soothe, “we need to get you back home and clean you up. Are you strong enough to climb?”

“I think so,” she whispers.

We climb back up slowly and carefully as I offer her as much support as possible. I think she collapsed due to the flood of adrenaline and pain from the cuts, but fortunately, it doesn’t look like she is seriously injured. This could have been so much worse.

When we arrive back at the apartment, I gently undress Kairi, growling when I see the damage the ravens have left. I want to wring the necks of those bastards.

I lay her down on the bed and grab a first aid kit from the bathroom. One by one I carefully clean each of her scratches and cuts, placing bandages on the ones that require them. It takes a long time. At the beginning of the process, Kairi whimpers as the disinfectant touches her wounds but as I continue she falls in and out of sleep, her brain trying to escape the searing pain.

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