Page 2 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

“What?” Caelan asked, stepping up beside me. He tilted his head, a piece of his dark-blond hair falling from the bun on top of his head. “You can’t be serious. If you take her back dead, they’ll believe we’re attacking. Remember, that was the plan not too long ago.”

His words cut deep, and I clenched my teeth, fighting the urge to punch him. I straightened my shoulders and pulled darkness around me, emphasizing my height and magic to him.I gritted out, “You don’t dictate what I do.I’myour king, and I’m blasting clear on what my original plan was and will carry that guilt for the rest of my existence. I don’t need you reminding me. But Lira will be returned to her homeland and family because that’s what she deserves. We won’t taint her death worse than we already have, and we’ll do the right thing… for her.”

He flinched. “I don’t understand why things changed so suddenly. You two knew each other before she was hidden on Earth, so why didn’t you feel this way from the start?”

“It took finding her again to realize what she is to me.” This was something only Finnian, Lira, and I knew. Finnian only because he’d suspected it all along, which had irritated me. Maybe if I’d understood sooner that Lira and I were fated, I could’ve wrapped my head around it and changed this outcome.

I guessed we’d never know.

I pulled up my sleeve, revealing the tattoos on my arms.

Caelan arched a brow. “When did you get that?”

Then I noticed the light pulsing again… as though Lira’s heart had somehow started beating again.

I took a few steps toward the bed and shoved Finnian off her, placing myself between him and Finola. If Lira was coming back to life, he didn’t need to be sitting on her.

“What the—” Finnian started as I lowered my ear to her chest, ignoring the way the dried blood from the gauntlet stuck to my ear.

“Hush,” I snapped… and then I heard the most beautiful sound in my entire existence.

Her heart was beating. Barely. I jerked upright and moved to her left side, where Bran had impaled her with the sword. I lifted her shirt and saw that the gaping hole had closed a little, though blood still trickled from the wound.

“Get the silk thread. We need to mend her wound!” I didn’t care if someone was creating an illusion. I’d take whatever they offered as long as I got to spend time with her again.

“Tav, we can, but I’m not sure that will make a diff…” Finnian trailed off like he was searching for how to finish that thought without upsetting me further.

Finola gasped. “No, look. Her fingers are moving.” She spun around, her fine, straight black hair blowing back, and hurried to the wooden table I’d once used to play chess with Eldrin. There lay the kit with the gray silk and curved needle to close her wound.

Laughing, Finnian sat beside Lira and shook his head. “I swear, she defies all odds.”

Lira did have a tenacity, the likes of which I’d never seen before, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t die again. “She’s still bleeding. We need to stop it if we want her to keep breathing,” I bit out.

After placing the mending kit on the side of the bed, Finola narrowed her deep-set eyes and threaded the needle. Then she placed a hand at the base of Lira’s wound, not flinching at the gold blood that continued to trickle from it.

Lira had made an impression on more people than Finnian and me. If she woke, it would be interesting to see how many people thought well of her despite her being our enemy’s heir.

Finola’s light-tan complexion seemed pale compared to Lira’s, proving this wasn’t a figment of our imagination.

As the needle pierced Lira’s skin, she groaned faintly. My heartbeat quickened, and the fated-mate markings pulsed harder. I reached out and took her hand in mine.

A jolt crashed between us, one that hadn’t been there minutes before.

“Lira, you’re in our bedchamber and safe.” I wanted her to know she was no longer in the arena. “I need you tokeep fighting. I can’t lose you just when my foolish eyes have finally opened.” My voice cracked, and my vision blurred as I remembered how awful the silence had been when I believed I’d lost her. I couldn’t lose her again. I wouldn’t survive.

“Put pressure on her other wounds,” Finola said and nodded toward Lira’s stomach and side. She’d been slashed in the stomach, and though the cut wasn’t deep, it still bled. Someone had also taken a chunk of skin from her other side, though that injury wasn’t as bad as the one Finola was mending.

I released Lira’s hand, though every cell in my body protested, but her blood loss was the priority.

“I’ll do it.” Finnian set his hands on the towel on Lira’s side. “Put pressure on her stomach with your free hand. Keep holding her hand—both of you need it.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. My touching her alone had made her face soften. Black blood covered her long, wavy blonde hair, and somehow, seeing her bathed in the blood of her enemies did something to me that wasn’t very appropriate, especially with her injured and unconscious.

Caelan paced behind us, not saying a word, and I focused on my beautiful mate. I’d give anything for her to open her cobalt eyes and say something to me… even if it was to tell me to get off her.

Biting her bottom lip, Finola continued to work diligently, and my shoulders slumped.

What if she didn’t want to be with me? I’d made multiple unforgivable mistakes. My chest tightened, but not as it had been when her heart stopped. It ached and made my insides feel vacant, but even if she didn’t want to be with me, at least she’d be alive.

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