Page 152 of Until the Stars Fall

“Why can’t we heal her?”

Two soft thuds were the only response, and I didn’t have the strength to deduce what had happened.

My world started to slip away, and the darkness turned bright around me. The pressure at my side lessened, replaced by a soothing coolness that reminded me of the balm my mother had often used when I’d spent too much time in the sun. The pain eased as another beloved voice called to me—my mother.

“Smile, sweet girl. It will all be over soon.”

Those should have been happy words, but instead they pricked my heart with sudden panic. Connor’s brown and gold eyes flashed in my mind briefly before disappearing. I cried out, pleading and begging.

“I don’t want it to be over! I want to stay. I need to stay. With him.”

I repeated the words, screaming them into the nothingness that surrounded me, until the darkness flooded in once again. My pain returned, though now it was more of an ache, lingering like an annoying, tenacious gnat.

“Sapphire, can you hear me?” Connor’s voice, soft and stilted, guided me through the darkness until I opened my eyes to find him staring at me.

“You,” I whispered, lifting my lips into a half-smile.

“Me,” he said, and although relief shone in his eyes, a wince contorted his features.

“What’s wrong?” I tried to reach for him, but my wrists were bound behind the wooden post I was seated against. I struggled against the bindings. The coarse rope cut into my skin but didn’t loosen at all.

Connor ignored my question, straining to ask his own. “Are you okay? Are you in pain?”

“It still hurts, but it’s better,” I said. I shifted to examine my wound but stopped when I realized he was shirtless. “What happened to your shirt?”

“You needed it more than I did,” he said. A weak laugh tumbled from his lips. He pulled the fabric away from my midsection, and his expression darkened. Tension pulsed in his jaw as his eyes squeezed shut and a growl rumbled in his chest. “You said it would heal her!”

Anna hummed quietly from where she stood a short distance away. “I wondered if this might be the case,” she said flatly.

“What is she talking about?” I asked Connor, but his arms suddenly went slack, and his body heaved as he struggled to breathe. He hung his head, resting it lightly against my shoulder. I glared at Anna and Owen. “What is wrong with him?”

“It’s the poison,” Owen offered casually, as if that should have been obvious.

Anna sighed and added, “But we didn’t poison him. He did that to himself when he attacked Caroline.”

“Who the fuck is Caroline?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Our archer?” Anna clarified. “You met her several times, I believe.” I vaguely recalled the few encounters I’d had with her.

Before I could ask them anything further, Connor lifted his head off my shoulder enough to turn slightly toward the humans. “Why isn’t it healing her?”

His voice held only a fraction of its normal strength.

“The bond,” Anna said. “That’s my best guess anyway. When applied directly to the wound, the tonic heals surprisingly quickly…normally. But it seems like now that your mating bond has been established, she’s no longer a mere human. Her body no longer reacts to the solution as a human’s would. That’s likely why—”

“Mates?” I didn’t realize I’d said it aloud until Connor turned to me, his tired eyes pleading with me, as if he was worried I would be angry.

Anna laughed lightly. “Oh dear. Has he not told you?”

“I’m your…mate?” I asked shakily, my heart bursting with a terrifying joy. I yearned to hold him, to take his face in my hands and tell him how elated this made me. Resting my forehead against his, I sighed as I hunted for the right words.

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” Connor said, his words barely loud enough for me to hear. A tear escaped and slid down my cheek, settling at the corner of my smile. He pulled back slightly, and his soul connected with mine as our eyes met. “And now it’s too late.”

Connor sucked in one final, shallow breath and collapsed on my lap.

CHAPTER 83

Lieke

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