Page 88 of Shattered Heir
“Keil, tell me, is Shad still alive?”
“Yes.”
It was all I needed. Regardless of the pain, the weakness, or the spinning in my head, I stood up. I was going to save him. I could still save him; there was a chance!
“Take me to him, now,” I demanded.
Chapter Forty-Four
Ryker and Keil took me into Shad’s room, carried in Ryker’s arms. I wanted to stand and walk by myself, but Ryker refused to let me, saying that I was still too weak; it was true, but still, he wasn't moving as fast as I would have liked him to move.
Shad’s room was cold. I noticed that first off. His window curtains were drawn back, and that brought in light, and the sunshine covered his body where he lay in his bed, but it was still cold.
“I need to be alone with him.”
“Em, I am so sorry,” Ryker started, and I put my hand up to stop him.
“Please, Ry, just give us a moment.” He nodded and closed the door. I clicked the lock.
“Emma? Why did you lock it?” Panic was clear in Ryker’s voice, but I didn't care. I would deal with Ryker later. Right then, I had to fix Shad, and I would not let Ryker stop me.
“I am going to save him,” I shouted as I made my way slowly over to Shad.
“Emma, there is nothing you can do.”
I tried to tune out Ryker’s shouts, which made me cringe. Shouts that we had already lost him, that nothing could save him. I wouldn't believe that. I couldn't face that; it wasn't true. I could not live while Shad died. I could not tell Ryker or the others about what I knew; I doubted that they would let me try—well, maybe Keil would have, but Ryker definitely wouldn’t.
“Keil, do not let anyone in here,” I shouted back, hoping that Keil loved Shad enough to give me some time with him to do what I needed to do to save him. The shouts stopped, and I turned to Shad.
If I had such a powerful Soul, as they all told me I did, then I knew I could do it. It might be difficult, but I knew I could. I had lived without a melody for most of my life. I watched the beautiful rise and fall of Shad’s chest. Life. Life was so incredibly beautiful. The life inside of him was the most beautiful thing that I had ever witnessed in my life. I reached out and touched his hand, laying down beside him, and I felt the familiar electric buzz there between us. I wondered how I should do it. I knew that I needed to kiss him and then split my melody, similar to how he had pulled that one note out and had given it to me.
But how, exactly, does that work?
I recalled the memory and the look in Shad's eyes as he stared at the half glass of water. He had said: “half, you only need half.” I hoped I could split my soul—split my melody in half–and do it correctly. We could share one soul, completing each other—we had to. There was, literally, no other choice. We had searched and tried all other options. I looked at Shad’s lips, and I knew more than anything else in all the worlds that I wanted him; I wanted his lips on mine, and I wanted to help him in any way that I could, even if he had to use my melody; I would gladly give it to him.
“Shad, I need to do something,” I whispered, making sure if Ryker and Keil were listening behind the door that they couldn’t hear me.
There was no response. I was pretty much there, talking to myself; he was unconscious. I checked to make sure that he was still breathing again, and panic started to swell within me. I tamed my melody down to the beat of his soft, weak pulse.
“I am going to kiss you now, so please, stay still.”
Really, Emma, he can’t even move,I thought.
I leaned over him, and my hands braced the side of the bed, so I wasn’t putting any amount of pressure directly on him.
Shad had called me, “sleeping beauty.” He meant it as a joke; he was flirting. At the time, I was too embarrassed to linger on his words. The second time Shad called me “sleeping beauty,” he was a soulless, and yet, when he saw me asleep, he must have thought the same thing about me. I did not realize it until that moment, when I was leaning over Shad, that really, Ihadbeen sleeping throughout my life before I met him. Before Cade’s men murdered my parents, I was not fully me. My melody had been shielded, and I wasn’t before who I was at that moment, leaning over the boy who I loved. After my parent’s deaths, I was still asleep, consumed with so much sorrow. I was at war with myself; I could not feel. I was hollow. When I met Shad, that was truly when I woke up from my slumber. His melody called to mine; he spoke to me in a way that no one ever had before. His touch electrocuted me awake. I died a little when Shad’s soul was taken from him in that cave. But having hope, the hope that I could free him, that I could save him, kept me going, kept me enduring all the doubts. I leaned my forehead on his. The same electric touch was there between us.
Even when he wasn’t fully with me, even when he was soulless, I had hope because he had set up a way for me; he had set me up to be better than I was. Even in the cave, he would have ratherstood there kissing me than tell me his idea that would have saved him. It was almost an afterthought; he did it at the end. He sacrificed his very soul to save me, and he had comforted me, vowing to be mine, and filling me with hope. I cried and wiped the tears before they could fall onto Shad’s face. He was pale, and below his eyes, his skin was grey, but he was still so incredibly handsome.
Maybe, I had been sleeping beauty, and he had awakened me first. The Creator knew that he had saved me time and time again. But there Shad was, literally in a bed, unconscious, asleep, so near to death—and my kiss,mykiss, might save him. Mother’s stories in her storybook told of the magic of kisses.
Can it be that simple?
I didn’t know if it would work, and even if it did work and after it was done, we would still have a long way to go. We had a world to save and people to defend. I didn’t know how all of that would play out exactly, but I knew that I could do anything if Shad was at my side. I would do whatever it took to have him standing beside me once again.
I knew that what I was about to do had never been done before. I wouldn’t let any doubts fill me; Shad had believed that it was a possibility, so I would try it.
Here I go.
