Page 48 of Midnight Rules
“Iven.” He needed to tell Iven not to worry. Marric could feel his mate’s panic. It mingled with his own.
“Shh, it’s okay.” That was Zinnie’s voice. But where was Iven?
Marric told himself to calm down because Iven could feel his emotions too.
He opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he saw Zinnie as she tried to put a straw to his mouth.
She smiled. “Drink. It’ll make you feel better.”
Marric did as she said. He shook his head when he couldn’t drink more, and she pulled the straw away. “I need Iven.”
“Iven’s looking for a cure. He told me to tell you he loves you.” Zinnie said it as though that was a good thing, but what it meantwas Iven thought Marric was going to die. He wouldn’t have said it otherwise.
“I need to talk to him. Please.”
Pleading did the trick.
Zinnie pulled out her phone and then pressed the screen. The phone rang. “Start talking right away. He’s going to think the worst.”
Iven was already talking as soon as he picked up. “Oh fuck. Tell me he’s not…” Iven’s voice cracked.
“I’m okay. I’m sorry for scaring you.” Even as Marric said it, he could feel the fatigue wash over him. It pulled at his mind, threatening to drag him under.
“You did nothing wrong, love. But I’m going to find out who did and put an end to the curse once and for all. I promise.”
Marric should be with Iven. Not laid up in bed. “I want to help.”
“You can help by staying alive. Do what Zinnie tells you and get better.”
“I love you too, by the way.” Marric’s vision blurred to the point of not being able to see. The room blacked out and then came back as if his eyes had shutters he couldn’t control.
“Aww, honey.” Whatever else Iven said faded into the walls of the room. It was as if Marric was hearing and seeing things from underwater. Maybe he was drowning. Maybe that was his reality and Iven was the dream. A river held Marric in its current, pulling him downstream from the best thing that had ever happened to him. Nothing could stop it.
****
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He knew some had because Zinnie wasn’t in the room with him anymore. Or he didn’t think she was. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, so he didn’t know. But Zinnie had a calming presence about her that surrounded Marric in warmth. He didn’t feel that anymore.Instead, he felt a small body pressed against his left side and a slightly larger one on his right.
Marric tried to turn on his side, but Emery and Regan lay on top of the covers next to him.
They must have felt him move because Regan sat up. “Papa’s waking up.” And then he disappeared from the bed. Marric heard his little feet pound out of the room and down the stairs. “I’ll get Zinnie and Gran.”
It was then that Marric opened his eyes. He found Emery lying beside him.
Her eyes were red rimmed, and she clutched a tissue in her hand. The only reason he saw the tissue was because her hand was close to her face.
She sat up, cross-legged on the bed. “Okay, so here’s the deal I’m going to make with you, and I think you should take it because it means dad will be off your back about that stupid dynasty shit.”
Marric knew she was serious, but somethings weren’t as important in the face of death. Dad’s agenda was one of them. So he couldn’t help smiling at her deal making.
But his smile was short-lived when her chin quivered, and tears gathered on her lashes. “I’ll literally give you my firstborn. You can raise it as your own.” The tears spilled over. She tried to hold back a sob. “But you have to live.”
Marric pulled his arm from under the covers and gathered her close, letting her cry.
He shivered, so Emery climbed in with him, giving him her body heat. He was grateful to have her body heat.
When the tears dissipated, he addressed her attempt at making a deal. “I won’t give Dad the satisfaction of winning the dynasty war.”
The chuckle was watery, but he got her to laugh. He counted that as a win. “You bonded with Iven. That’s a loss for him. Andbelieve me when I tell you, he left with Iven and Cass knowing it.”
