Page 72 of Amethyst and Iron
I swallowed hard, fighting to quell my panic, to compartmentalize like I always did so fucking well. But I couldn’t… that barrier… it was gone.
I managed to croak out to Kai through a severely dry throat, “It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up to you beside me.”
He didn’t bite back like I’d expected.
Like Kai Hunter would.
Especially whenever I referenced that. It always got under his skin. Always.
That strange non-reaction from him had me almost as unsettled as being here inside the Guardian Compound after what I’d done.
“Why are you… what’s happening?”
“You are recovering from pulling Velra from the Valley of the Dead and killing yourself in the process. As for whyI’mhere, the surface reason is that you marked me as your next of kin. According to the timestamp, you did so right after you confessed your sickness to me.”
“Yeah, I did.” I frowned. “Surface reason?”
“The deeper reason is that with what I’m about to convey,youneed it to be me who is here with you. I suspect this scenario occurred to you when you marked me as next of kin.”
He was being cryptic.
Kai was straight down the line. He didn’t beat around the bush, especially not when it came to transmitting information.
He gestured at my body.
I looked down to see that I was near-naked, apart from a pair of white boxers, and I was being fed my own serum from six different tubes embedded in my veins.
Yet, I was still partially desiccated.
A chill rolled through me. “It’s reached that point.”
“Yes, my friend. It’s no longer sustainable.”
“PerformingAuctoritas Mortispushed it too far.”
He reached out through the open Restoration Chamber and grasped my arm. “There’s a decision that needs to be made. It’s why they’ve woken you up.”
I looked past him, noticing the Healers milling around in the background.
“And what might that be?”
Even as I uttered the words, I already fucking knew.
Of course I did.
I was a highly-learned magic-wielder, Master of Death Magic, member of Arcanum Order, and I’d been studying my specific sickness for a long while.
“Sylas.”
“No.No.”
“Waking you up is only temporary and it can’t be done again. Not like this. Not with you being as you are.”
“How long can they hold it for?”
“A couple of hours at the most are the projections.”
“This… decision.” I swallowed hard. “This decision you said you woke me up to make… and…”
