Page 103 of The Aether

“Yes.” After an exaggerated eye roll and a single-shoulder shrug, she sauntered over to the body on the bed. “I think it’s from being on the other side as long as I was.”

“Ask Vivian what we need,” Damian ordered. His tone was as sharp and intense as his expression.

“I told you. Thespark.”

“Tell him what the spark is, sister,” Vivian urged.

“I don’t know that, Viv.” A frown tugged Josie’s auburn brows together. “Do you?”

“Nate. Nate’s the spark.”

“Baby or Guardian?”

“My son.”

Josie relayed the message, and before she was finished, Damian was bolting down the hall toward the nursery.

Within seconds, he’d teleported back into the room, Nate cradled in his arms. “You may want to plug your ears for this,” he warned. “When I wake him, he’ll scream his head off. He felt the connection with Vivian snap earlier today.”

“Tell Damian—”

“You tell him, Viv. Use me as a conduit to speak.”

“It’ll weaken you,” she warned.

“I’ll be fine,” Josie assured her.

Meeting Josie halfway, she joined her energy to her sister’s by clasping her hands.

“Damian, place Nate on his belly across my chest.”

Appearing ill at ease, he did as instructed. “What’s next, and let’s hurry this along. Hearing your voice come out of Josie’s mouth is most disturbing.”

Vivian laughed, and both men looked visibly shaken.

“Kiss me, Damian.”

His black brows snapped together so fast that Vivian would’ve bent double in her amusement had she not been tethered to Josie.

“I amnotkissing your sister.”

“Good. Because you need to kissmeto breathe life into my body. Just as you did when you woke me the day you came to retrieve Sabrina.”

Lips turned up in a self-deprecating smile, Damian shook his head. “Of course.”

“But how does the baby figure into all this?” Trevor asked.

“He’s her tether to this side. The maternal love she feels for him is her reason for living. The spark.”

Satisfied her husband understood what needed to be done, she released her grip on Josie, mentally wincing when her sister collapsed in a heap on the floor.

When Trevor opened his mouth to speak, Damian waved him off.

“Remember your family, Viv. Remember how much we love you and need you. How much Nate and Sabrina need you. Come back to us, fully restored, my love.” Enchantment in place, he bent and kissed her.

The pull was instantaneous, and her soul snapped into place.

And fuck if every cell of her body didn’t ache like a bitch.

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