Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(104)
Zeth snorted. “Oh, I will. And I will be your judge, your jury, and your executioner. If you have some desperate hope that you will live through the end of your trial, I must strongly advise you against such foolish hopes. It would be much wiser if you spent your time saying goodbye to the witch you’ve thrown your immortal life away for. Once the sun sets tonight, you will not get another chance.”
The Ancient vampire snapped his fingers at the men who’d brought us into the silver cage. He threw us one final, derisive look and then walked out of the basement, servants scurrying after him.
“Liv.” Warin’s voice, so soft and tender, made me turn my head to look at him. There was so much love in his eyes, it made my heart clench with longing. What torture, that the man I loved more than life itself was only a few yards away, yet I would never feel his arms around me again.
“I want you to know that I do not regret a single moment that led me to this place. Twelve hundred years of night I have lived, yet it wasn’t until you that I finally understood why I was put on this Earth.”
“Warin—“ I tried, a clump of sorrow filling my throat. He was saying goodbye.
“We don’t have much time, my love,” he said. “Please, listen to me. Once the sun rises, I need you to break free. Call your power, do whatever you have to—but get out. His interest is with me. You are just a catalyst—he must have been plotting my demise for a long time. Once you are out of his reach, he will not pursue you until I am gone.”
“Warin—“
“Let me finish—the sun is almost up.” The desperation in Warin’s voice cut through me like a knife, and I silenced, though nothing could stop the tears trickling down my cheeks.
“You have to leave me behind, my love. There is no way out for me, but there is for you. Please. Please, find it. I cannot bear the thought of your death. Please. Find Aleric. He will help you disappear.”
“I can’t leave you behind!” I sobbed. “I can’t.”
“You must. You have to live. You have to grow old, bring a family into the world. Have children and grandchildren you can one day tell the story of a beautiful witch who stole the heart of a vampire and saved his soul from the darkness.” Tears were trickling down his face too, and it only made mine come that much harder and faster. “It was Fate that I found you, my Liv. Maybe if there truly is something more after this existence, Fate will bring us together again once you have lived a long and happy life. But even if there isn’t… I am so grateful that I met you. Please. Please, do not let me meet my Final death regretting that I found you, because meeting me doomed you.”
“I love you,” I hiccuped. “I love you. I love you.”
“Then I can die happy,” he whispered, eyelids slowly closing. “The sun is here. Run, my love. Live.”
“Warin?” I croaked. “Warin!”
He didn’t respond, his body hanging immobile from the chains like one of those animal carcasses from the slaughterhouse.
I breathed in sharply through my nose—such comparisons were not going to do me any good, and right now… right now, I had to find some semblance of strength. Because he had asked it of me, his final wish, I had to find some way out. There had to be a way.
I clutched my hands uselessly above my head, trying to summon my magic. It responded, but I didn’t know how to direct it when I couldn’t aim with my hands. And if I just pushed it up, worst-case scenario, I’d break the ceiling on top of both of us. Warin might survive that, but me…? Much more dicey.
“What’s with everyone and their fucking aunt having a silver cage in their basement these days? Come on.” I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on the magic inside. It rose in a soft wave, awaiting direction, and I groaned. “Just… blast the bars!”
I’d only voiced my frustration—I didn’t expect my magic to obey. But as I imagined my magic blasting a hole through the cage… the power inside me shuddered, swelled… and released.
I opened my eyes just in time to see my green magic blast against the bars, bending them outward.
“What the…?” I blinked and stared from the almost-big-enough gap in the bars to my still-tied hands above my head. Was that…? Was that how it worked? Maggie had mentioned something about visualizing hitting the targets she tried to get me to hit, but I’d never managed.
Deciding I could wonder at the temperamental nature of my magic later, I focused on my hands and tried to picture green flames licking up along the silver chain, melting it.
I gasped when my magic rolled through my body and up, encasing the chain.
It only took a few moments before I landed heavily on the bottom of the cage. It was almost easy now, and I freed my ankles before I returned my focus to the bars. It was a little harder bending a large enough gap in them that I wouldn’t have trouble getting through.
Then, I turned to the sleeping vampire at the other side of the cage. He still hung as if dead, oblivious to my magic break-through.
Leave me, he’d said.
My heart wrenched in my chest at the echo of his voice. How could he expect me to leave him behind to die? I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his still form. He was so solid… so real, even without the reassurance of a heartbeat. If I left him, he would be nothing more than an aching memory. No longer solid. No longer real.