I wet my lips and return to our bedroom. The bed with all plum-colored dressings has been made, but not by me. I turn to the bathroom, not that we use it or really anything in this afterlife.
The moment I’m about to check the closet, I hear,“Burrrow”.
Peaking over my shoulder, I see Mister coming through the slightly cracked door. My chest raises as I take a deep breath.
“What’re you doing here?” He hadn’t shown up in our version of paradise.
Buurrrow. Rrrow.
My eyes narrow in curiosity, and as I step to him, he turns around and walks out of the room.
A sharp pinch in my chest makes me instinctively reach for an invisible weapon—whatever it is that’s causing the pain. There’s nothing there, but it feels as though a small knife is dragging across my skin.
Rrrrrrrrowww.
I lift my gaze, and the light that usually pours from outsidedims, and darkness now urges me to come to it.
“Kai?” I call for him again, and when silence envelops around me, I release a shaky breath.
Has it already been so long?
Taking the steps back to the door, I reach out with an unstable hand and push it open. The darkness is as it always has been to me, unwelcoming, but not something I fear. It wraps me in a feeling of loneliness I never want to feel again, but I know if Kai isn’t in this room, it means I need to wake. Like my body’s coming back to life and removing the only means to keep me fighting against it.
I take the step through, and as if on instinct, my eyes shut, blanketing me in the cruel world I’ll be waking up to.
6 weeks later
A groan rollsfrom my throat and it isn’t as sore as I had imagined it to be. My tongue ring isn’t stuck to the roof of my mouth, and while my body aches, it’s not in pain.
“What… the fuck?” I am going to kill whoever woke me up too soon. My hand moves up to my neck, feeling that my head has been placed perfectly, enough so that it will reattach itself instead of grow one back. I’d instructed Kayn to cut my head off so that I was dead quicker than my heart would give out. That, and I wanted to spill blood into the casket, just in case…
“There she is.”
My gasp catches in my throat, and I choke on nothing other than my shock.
I feel movement beside me, and I immediately jerk my head to the side. It’s pitch black in here, but I don’t need toseehim to know that the body that moves next to me isalive.
I’d have immediately thought someone was playing a fucked-up prank on me. That maybe Alaric was being nice to just turn around and move me into his bed and wake me, tormenting me with happiness but instead giving me my own eternal damnation.
But there is no mistaking that voice.
“K-Kai…” I shake through his name.
His hand quickly finds mine that is still at my throat, and circles itaround his neck before pulling me into a powerful kiss. The sound of liquid slushes under us as he angles himself to me and tilts his head. My mouth opens, his tongue clashes against mine and as I taste him, I hold him tighter.
“O-Oh—” I grab his hair and pull him back. “Oh my Gods—it worked!”
“Yes, little demon, it did.” He tears from my grip and smashes his lips against mine once more, kissing and sucking on my tongue that invades his mouth. “You did it.”
I laugh, but still keep our mouths secured together.
It worked… It fucking worked…
“I don’t knowif it will work,” I say, releasing a heavy, painful sigh. “It’s so risky. You’ll die and I’ve never brought anyone back. Your healing is based on your body pumping the blood throughout your system.”
Kairhyse runs his fingers through my hair, our bodies entwined so tightly that not even a breath of air could slip between us. We are taking our time getting out of bed, knowing that the moment we do, we will have to meet up with Sydni and the rest of them, then it’s off to Sidence.
“It could, and worst case, we can just sit in that dreamy state you talked about.” His lips brush against mine. “If it comes down to it, put my head back on my shoulders—” I literally tremble, violently so. “—and then put me into a pool of your blood. Or maybe…” He wraps his arm around my neck and has me burying my face into the curve of his shoulder. “Your Amoro will come find my soul and bring me back.”
