Page 78 of Love Heals
Leandra removed the blade from my neck. "Turn around," she said, her voice heavy with something I couldn't define. Her grip on me loosened ever so slightly. Not enough for me to break free, but enough for me to turn to face her. One of her hands went to my shoulder, pushing me toward the ground.
I glanced up at sky, even as I went down on my knees, and then on my back. It was lightening up in the distance. The first rays of the sun wouldn't kill me, I wasn'tthatyoung. I would have time to watch the sky turn red and orange and finally blue. There would be birds then, above me.
Leandra positioned a stake on my chest. I wasn’t surprised that she had one on her. She’d been waiting for me, and traitors were to be eliminated.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" she asked. "It'll be painful."
“I’m not scared of pain.”
"I really wish it didn't have to come to this." Leandra pressed a kiss to my forehead, and then, with one firm motion, she pushed the stake into my chest.
I gasped as my breath was pushed out of me and I closed my eyes against the pain. The stake crushed through my ribs, piercing me. Immediately, I felt paralyzed, pinned to the ground.
"Give my regards to the sun, little bird," Leandra said.
My vision had turned blurry, but I opened my eyes again to watch her rise.
"I won't tell the others what happened here," she said. "I will report that I saw the mortals kill you. They won't remember you as a traitor."
"I... the mortals would never..." I didn't care about being known as a traitor post-mortem. I didn't want anyone to think that Jared had killed me, but it was difficult to translate those thoughts into words. Instinctively, I tried to raise my hand only to find that I couldn't. Pulling the stake out by myself was not an option.
I let my eyes fall shut again, feeling my energy leave me as my body tried to heal itself around the wound to no avail. This was the end, then…
Strangely, once I had ascertained that there was no way out, I found it easier to relax.
I lifted my gaze to the sky. Pink light was starting to spill over the horizon.
Not long now.
I'd thought maybe I could watch the whole sunrise, but now that my magic was draining out of me, that was starting to become less and less likely. I'd underestimated how exhausting it would be to just...bewhile my body was struggling to repair itself.
The golden orb of the sun peaked over the edge of the horizon, slowly lighting up the roof—and me. My skin prickled where the sun touched it. My instincts screamed at me to roll over, to shield my face, to find a dark corner. I couldn't move, though, and I'd already decided not to hide from this sunrise, anyway. Stubbornly, I kept my eyes fixed on the sky, searching for a sense of tranquility inside myself. If the end was inevitable, why struggle?
Hadn’t my sire taught me how to endure the things I didn’t want to?
No, I didn’t want to think about my sire now.
But I couldn’t think about Jared either. Because I wouldn’t see him again, and that… that thought burned worse than the sunlight. And that was really starting to hurt now. My legs, my arms, my nose. Every part of me that wasn't covered by Leandra's thin coat.
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, thinking back to the memories Jared had shown me. My memories. Of a time when I'd enjoyed warm summer days. The fact that I couldn't now was proof of just how wrong everything about my continued existence was. I shouldn't have risen from the dead. Not for Nicolai.
"Silas!"
Was that just my imagination or was that Jared's voice?
I forced my eyes open again, glancing to the left. There was a figure closing in on me. A tall person. Jared's height. Was I hallucinating Jared in my final moments?
"Silas!" he called again, dropping to his knees beside me.
It really was Jared. I tried to smile at him, but it was too difficult with the sun burning my skin and my mind slipping.
He cursed when I didn't respond, and then he reached for the stake.
"Don't," I said. "I'll die faster." Once that thing was pulled out, the very last of my blood would pour from the wound. Jared hesitated, then cradled me in his arms. He smelled so good. Like heaven.
"Need to get you out of the sun," he said.
I wanted to say something, but my protest died on my lips as Jared lifted me up. He looked so pale, almost as if he were a vampire himself. He looked… scared. For me? “Sorry,” I murmured, because I didn’t want him to be scared, but it was difficult to find the words as he carried me and I focused on staying awake.
