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Nolan’s face turned ghostly white. With the collar gone, Adelaide felt lighter, but also furious. All fear vanished. She raised her flaming sword to swing for his neck. Before she got the chance, Nolan fled. She sliced the sword through empty air. An arc of flame flew off the glowing magic blade and singed Nolan’s back as he ran. She started after him, but movement in her periphery caught her attention.
Dresden ran through the dark, weaponless. Not after Nolan, but somewhere else. She traced his trajectory to a mound in the grass.
No, not a mound.
Regulus.
The scream she emitted hardly sounded human. The magic sword vanished. She raced toward his still body. Dresden beat her to him and rolled Regulus onto his back as she slid to a stop. Even in the dim light, she could see the blood that covered his abdomen and had pooled on the grass. His eyes were closed, his features deathly pale and still. His chest wasn’t moving.
“No, no, no,” Dresden muttered. “Regulus? Can you hear me?” He touched Regulus’ neck, searching for a pulse. “Please, Reg.”
Tears burned her eyes and soaked her cheeks as she knelt next to Regulus. She reached out tentatively. “Regulus...”
Dresden made a strangled noise in his throat. “Don’t you abandon me now, Regulus. Please.” He adjusted his fingers on Regulus’ neck, pressing as if that would induce a pulse. “Reg?” His hand slipped away as he sobbed.
“No!” Adelaide grabbed Regulus’ blood-soaked chainmail, choking on her sobs. Her chest burned with the effort of breathing and her stomach muscles tensed and knotted to the point of pain. Mucus ran out of her nose and mingled with her tears. “Regulus, you hang on!” She placed her hands over the wound on his stomach. Soft blue light illuminated the ragged tear in his chainmail and blood-soaked gambeson.
“He’s gone, Adelaide.” Dresden’s voice was deadened and hopeless.
“No.” She shook her head. She could feel it. The tiniest bit of life. A spark of energy deep in his chest. “He’s hanging on. Just barely.” But she detected the wound, too. She sensed the hole through his body and the damage done to his organs. “Please, Etiros. Please.”
Her palms glowed brighter as she focused all her magic on Regulus. From deep inside working out, she pulled him back together.
“Come back to me, Regulus,” Adelaide whispered. “Don’t leave me.” Don’t leave me. I’m sorry I blamed you, even for a moment. I’m sorry I didn’t stay with you. I’m sorry I didn’t stop Nolan. I’m sorry your pain is because of me again. But don’t leave me.
Her tears dripped onto her hands and mixed with Regulus’ blood. She sensed the wound closing, healing, the blood reabsorbing, but the flicker of life in his chest sputtered on the edge of going out.
“Come on,” she muttered. “Etiros, please. COME ON.” The light glared brighter. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” The wound closed, but still he didn’t move. She moved her hands, searching. His sternum was cracked. She healed his chest, then his battered cheek and pulled off his gloves to heal his cut hands. Still he showed no signs of improving. “Regulus?”
Dresden felt Regulus’ neck again. “Reg...?” He shook his head. “He...he’s lost too much blood.” Tears traced lines down the blood marring the side of Dresden’s face.
“No...he can’t...I can’t... Regulus.” Her voice cracked. Adelaide laid across his chest, holding on to his shoulders. “I can’t...stop. Can’t stop them. Not—not without you,” she whispered between sobs and gasps for air. “I love you.” She broke down weeping onto his shoulder, numb to everything. Numb to Regulus’ limp body beneath her, to the tears on her face.
“Can’t...breathe...” Regulus’ voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it over her crying. She gasped and straightened. His eyes were open, and she sobbed again as they met hers.
“Regulus?” Dresden choked out.
“I’m...tired.” Regulus blinked sluggishly. She placed her hand on his chest. The spark of life shuddered, losing the fight to hold on.
“No, no, don’t you go to sleep!” She grabbed the sides of his face. Her lower lip trembled. A tear fell from her chin onto his cheek.
“I love you, too.” Regulus sounded thin and reedy. Completely unlike himself. “I’m...sorry.”
“No, you have nothing to be sorry for.” She stroked his hair, her hands shaking. “I’m sorry! I—”
“Shhh.” He closed his eyes. “You didn’t...do...anything...wruh...”
“Regulus!” Adelaide pulled his head toward her, and he opened his eyes. An idea occurred to her. She didn’t know if she could do it, and she’d already used so much magic, but she had to try. She had to. “You want to marry me, right?”
“Yush...”
“You want to bind yourself to me forever?”
“Ad...I would—have...”
“I am yours.” Her voice trembled. “Say you’re mine. Forever.”
“Yes. I...your...sh.” His eyes fluttered shut.
“No, you don’t.” Adelaide wiped away her tears and set her jaw. She pushed up the sleeve on his right arm and placed her hand over his scars.
Warmth spread across her palm as energy pulsed from her chest down her arm. Protect him. Heal him. Tie his life to mine. She put every ounce of healing power, all the energy she would use to create a protective barrier larger than any she had conjured before, into him. Her power drained away, emptying out of her and filling him. Even if she poured herself out and her magic was gone forever, she didn’t care, so long as it worked. Even if it killed her. It had to work. Etiros, let this work. Please! Regulus’ arm glowed blue under her hand.
The flicker of life in Regulus’ chest flared back to full strength. She felt a bond between them, like a cord connecting her heart to his. Felt him like he wasn’t just next to her, but he was in her heart, in her very soul, and she in his. Her hand slipped off his arm and weariness made her sway, her vision clouding over. A black mark stood out on his skin, over the white of his scars.
The overlapping knot design had no beginning and no end, just one never-ending line, crossing over itself to form two interlocking hearts connected by a diamond. White spots drifted through her sight as she stared at the mark. She closed her eyes. She just...needed...a moment...
