Page 143 of The War of Wings
Minus Cal,I thought to myself.
Miles didn’t say anything as Nell walked away. His fist was held to the middle of his chest. His eyes were closed, his breaths steady but each one shaky. “It’s still here. I’m f-fighting it, but I don’t know what will happen if it t-takes over.” His body began to quiver with effort.
My head shook. “Malosym is dead. All the Occulti, too. How is this still happening?” I straightened, wanting to find Tyrak and ask him what he knew, but then it hit me again that Tyrak was gone.
“Cielle?” he whispered, his eyes opening the slightest bit.
“I-I haven’t seen her,” I stammered. “I’m sorry.”
His eyes closed again, his jaw tightening. “J-Just kill me, p-please.” The shaking worsened, his face strained.
I reached for the gash on my cheek, wetting my fingers with blood and swiping them across his forehead. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t sit there and not try.
“Solise? Is there anything you can do?” I begged, trying to discern what she was thinking as her weathered face stared down at Miles.
“There is one thing I may be able to try,” she started, her words cautious.” I’m not especially familiar with the process. I only know what I can remember from my studies. And it was for illnesses of the blood, not…removing evil.”
“Anything,” I pleaded. “Anything you can do.”
“I need blood,” she stated, her eyes hard on me. I extended my arm immediately, but she shook her head. “I need the blood of a relative, and I need a lot of it.”
I felt the color drain from my face as I opened my mouth to speak. “Cal…” I started, unable to spit the words out. “He’s… He didn’t…”
“Cal?” Miles asked, his eyes shooting open.
“He’s okay,” I quickly said, the lie burning my tongue and stinging my eyes with tears. “He’s just back in Araqina.”
Miles’ eyes shut again as he seemed to accept my answer, but understanding flashed over Solise’s face. Horror quickly followed for a split second before the healer’s mask snapped back into place. “Is there anyone else? Any other blood relatives?” But she knew the answer to that.
Miles’ movements had grown more erratic, his body seizing as the power grew stronger and tried to take hold again. My strike must’ve damaged the evil enough to take him down, but it was coming back. He was fighting against its pull, I could see it, but it was taking everything in him to keep it at bay.
“Kill m-me,” he begged through gritted teeth. “Before i-it gets s-stronger.”
I wracked my brain, tearing at my hair as if it would dislodge an idea. “Could you just try my blood?” Maybe the power in my blood could cancel out what Malosym left behind.
Solise’s eyes moved over the thrashing body before her. Though her expression was neutral — a healer surveying her patient — there was an uncertainty in her movements. “I can’t make any promises, and I’m not sure of the effect it will have on you. A blood relative would have the greatest chance of success.”
The roaring cheers of victory were background noise here, an inconsequential, meaningless buzzing as the rest of the world celebrated but mine continued to fall apart.
I’d lost Cal. I couldn’t lose Miles, too.Please.Let me keep my friend.
Ludovicus stumbled into the clearing then, his breath sawing violently in and out of his lungs, his dark eyes wild as he took in the scene. Horror marred his features and he froze the moment he took in Miles. His mouth opened then closed again, his face suddenly pale. “He’s alive? How?”
But before anyone could answer, Cielle was there, stumbling in behind Ludovicus. I watched the moment Miles’ eyes fell on her, the moment something loosened and tightened in him at the same time — the relief she was alive but the dread that she was near him in this state.
“G-get her o-out of-f here,” he spat.
Cielle ignored his order and closed the distance. I stepped back, giving her space. The smile on her blood-spattered face was so rife with thinly veiled fear, my heart stumbled over itself. I couldn’t tell if she was injured, but she was moving well enough to crouch at his side.
“Hi, soldier,” she breathed.
His teeth were gritted together as every muscle in his body seized, his eyes slammed shut. “P-Please, go.”
“Tempting offer, but no,” she whispered, reaching for his trembling hand.
Ludovicus’ eyes were locked on Miles as he took a cautious step toward Solise. “He needs compatible blood,” she said, her voice low enough that hopefully Miles couldn’t hear. “Cal didn’t make it.”
A sob broke free from my lips where I stood. Miles was in his final moments. And even after everything that had happened, I was more scared of losing Miles for good this time than whatever the hell would happen if evil took over once again.
