Page 124 of Cursed Evermore
The last stroke of madness kicked in, a raw instinct to survive, and I screamed into the water, thrashing against the tentacle’s grasp.
My struggle only accelerated my demise, and I sank even deeper into the sea with the Ruskiel’s remains.
Blessed Mother, I wasn’t going to make it.
I was going to die here.
As soon as the thought pierced my mind and the world blurred, I saw him again.
Wolfeappeared before me, hacking at the tentacle.
The grip finally came loose and Wolfe grabbed me before I could float away.
Holding me against his chest, he swam upwards, his wings lifting us higher and faster. Still, I must have blacked out twice before we pierced the surface. Air hit my face, waking me up, and I tried to cough up the water. But I couldn’t get it out. Or breathe.
Wolfe flew back to the deck of the ship, dropped his sword, and laid me down.
He pressed on my chest and water flowed up from my lungs.
I coughed it up, but without air, my consciousness waned, flickering from dark to light and back again.
“Come on, Ziyka. Don’t you dare die on me,” Wolfe spoke in a voice that held too much emotion for a someone who was supposed to be my enemy.
I could barely see him, but what I saw …
Gods, he still wore that Grim Reaper skeletal face, but his skin had started to reform, showing he was badly hurt. Blood seeped from open slices across his face and neck, and the moonlight revealed dark, angry bruises.
He did something with his hands that heated my chest. It made the water flow up faster, but just as the water emptied, something thick slid into my lungs, sealing off my airway like a vacuum.
Wolfe’s eyes widened. “Oh, fuck. You’ve got to be kidding me. That fucking witch.”
It was the leeches. I could feel them inside me, wriggling violently as they emitted the same malicious energy I’d felt from the Ruskiel.
Dark shivers stitched into my bones and the little life that had kept me breathing drained away.
“Wol…fe.” I mouthed his name and reached for him.
He took my hand and held it as if he never planned to let go.
“No. Elariya, stay with me. Stay with me.” The desperation in his voice peeled back the layers of the devil, revealing the person beneath.
A person who looked at me as if I were more than a means to getting back his ring.
Wolfe looked at me as if I was his salvation. Something that transcended the situation that brought us together and I was no longer the daughter of his father’s killer.
“Stay with me.” The plea in his words reached past my failing body and spoke to my soul.
But I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t even tell him I had to go. The things inside my body were killing me.
“Elariya.”
A mass swelled in my chest, tight and burning, right before the witch’s ghostly laughter rattled through my bones.
“If I can’t have her, neither can you, Lord Nightblade.” The leeches answered in her voice, a thousand serpents hissing through my blood.
“We’ll see about that, witch.” Wolfe bared his teeth, the skeletal mask flashing over his face again. Then, Gods help me, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine.
A kiss of death.
