Sweet Ruin

TWENTY-SEVEN

Can’t reach her. No arrows left . . .

When all attempts to shoot through the cage failed, Rune had attacked the bolts bodily, snatching at lines of them until his hands were charred.

The light was searing his corneas. He closed his eyes, willing them to regenerate quickly. Unable to see, he could only fight, burn, and hear.

The crack of Josephine’s bones. Her strangled breaths.

He roared with fury, striking out at the lightning with even more force. Nïx would likely spot him. She could begin to clock his future, lessening his chances of a successful assassination.

Rune didn’t give a fuck. To reach Josephine, he grappled to breach the cage—

The lightning began to dissipate.

He swiped his sleeve over his eyes, blinking repeatedly to regain his sight. In the distance, Nïx had vanished, and Josephine lay motionless on the ground.

He traced to her. The damage was even worse than he’d thought. He dropped to his knees beside her battered body.

Shattered bones, cracked skull. Skin blistered and slashed.

He’d suffered enough internal injuries to recognize them in this small female. Her organs were bleeding inside her. With a curse, he lifted her. Her head lolled unnaturally. Nïx had broken her neck.

He yelled into the night, “I’ll fucking kill you, Valkyrie!” He traced Josephine to Tortua, to his bed. He sliced away her clothes, wincing at what he revealed.

If she was truly so young—and hadn’t made the transition to full immortality . . .

The vampire could die. As brutally as my mother did.

He cut his wrist for blood, dripping it between her pale lips. She didn’t wake and wouldn’t swallow. He needed a healer. How to find one? Immortals had scarce use for them! All they had to do was rest and wait for regeneration to happen.

Rune’s ears twitched. His heart raced as her heartbeat slowed. She might perish before he could return with help. Think, Rune!

In theory, he possessed enough magicks to heal her, but he would need a runic combination to access them, a spell of symbols. Could he remember the precise order and form of the runes?

He’d utilized healing spells to regenerate quickly after a violent brothel patron, but that had been thousands of years ago.

Racking his brain, he gathered black blood from his wrist. He pressed his forefinger to her chest and willed his mind to remember. . . .

Jo woke, blinking at her surroundings, her body in agony.

She was at Rune’s? He’d been at the riverfront! He must have saved her from the Valkyrie.

Jo raised her hand to her forehead, wincing. Dizziness made his bed feel like it undulated in waves. She dared a glance down. Bandages covered her. Strange markings peeked out from the edges.

She tried to make sense of that, but her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, yet echoing at the same time. The harder she stared at the bandages, the more her vision blurred. Soon she saw two of everything.

Two of Rune appeared beside the bed. Both of his faces looked exhausted. “You’re awake.” He sat next to her and rolled up his sleeve. “You should drink,” he said, but his manner was cold.

Why? He now knew she wasn’t in league with Nïx. “How did you find me?”

“I never lost you. I released you solely to follow you back to the Valkyrie.”

“I was bait?”

“As if you wouldn’t have done the same,” he said, tone even colder. “Seems you’re quite good at using others.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Forget it. You need to feed again.” He offered his wrist.

Pain ramped up her nausea. “I can’t. Not yet.”

He shrugged. “You’re on your way to making a full recovery, regenerating all on your own.” He hesitated, then said, “You should’ve told me you didn’t know Nïx.”

She couldn’t read his expression. “Would it have mattered?”

“It would have, yes. What did she mean when she called you rare?”

“I have no idea,” Jo murmured. “Did you bandage me?”

“I did. And I finally got you to drink over the last two days.”

She’d fed, and didn’t even remember? Wait . . . “Two days?” She needed to get back to Thad—he was still in that woman’s power! “I’ve been gone that long?” She sat up, and the room spun. All the pain in her body grew sharper. In response, her mind went foggier. She collapsed back.

“You had a cracked skull, among other things. It’s too soon for you to rise.”

“Oh.” Recovering from bullets to the face had been easy compared to this.

“I’m going to have a hell of a time assassinating an oracle now that she’ll be clocking my every move. And she made it sound like she’d already been watching yours.”

“I guess.” Jo’s cloudy brain couldn’t recall the things Nïx said, only the ass-kicking she’d delivered.

He reached for Jo’s hand, smoothing the edge of a linen bandage. Without looking up, he said, “The male you two were fighting over. Thaddeus. You thought I was aiming at him that night.”

She nodded, then grimaced at the deep pop in her neck. Waves of dizziness washed over her. The urge to throw up grew.

“You attacked me with all your might to protect him. You must really care for him.”

Confusion. “Of course I do.”

Rune shot to his feet, starting to pace. “Who is he? What is he?”

She tried to follow his movements, but the effort was grueling. What is Thad? She didn’t know. Was he like Jo?

Thad was good. “He’s the best man I know.” Her voice sounded more and more distant.

“In our wager, you were able to resist me because you wanted to get back to him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Won’t tell me his species? Then what is he to you?”

Everything. “I’d die for him.” Her words were slurring.

Black forked out over Rune’s eyes. “You love him?”

“Whaa?” Silly question. “More than anything.”

Rune sank down on the side of the bed again. Just as abruptly, he rose. He dipped his hand into his pocket, rolling something there over and over. The trinket? “You love him so much you drank from me? Then you gave me your body for a night? How would he feel to know you can’t get enough of my forbidden blood?”

What did that have to do with anything? “You wouldn’t understand.”

As she slipped back into sleep, he muttered, “I understand the demon in me demands his due. I’m off to service a harem of nymphs.”