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I held my hand above the gash and called on my power. The edges of the wound blistered, but the bleeding continued.
Samkiel jerked and gritted his teeth so hard I saw blood. I stopped, dropping my hand and holding him closer.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Fuck. Why isn’t it working?” I pushed impatiently at my hair, tucking it behind my ears with a bloodstained hand, smearing my face with his blood. Desperately, I looked around for help, knowing there was none to be had.
“It’s okay.”
“Can you heal yourself? Use what power you have left?”
He shook his head weakly. “I don’t have any power left.”
“What does that mean?” He didn’t answer, his eyes closing. “Samkiel,” I cried, shaking him, “what does that mean?”
His chest rose and fell too slowly. “What’s left of me,” he stopped, “my father bound to the realms. My entire life force. Why I was so tired after the spell was made.”
Rage flooded me, pure and blinding. I would rip Unir to pieces if he were still alive. My nails transformed into talons. I hated them. I hated all of them. Selfish, selfish gods. How could he do that to his own son?
“You have to leave. Nismera will come for you. They all will.”
“No, I won’t leave you. I’ll never leave you again, okay? I promised.”
He nodded and turned in to me, trying to get closer.
“I can feel them. The realms cracking, opening. So many. There are so many. He locked them all away.”
“Okay, well, we will face that together, too. Just tell me how to help you. Please.”
I pulled him closer, frissons of fear going through me with his every labored breath. If only I could will my own heat and life into him.
“You are my whole world.” He looked up at me, and my heart shattered. His once vibrant gray eyes had darkened as his skin paled. “I-I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I met you. Being with you, I finally felt what I wanted and had searched forever for. You woke me up and gave me reason. You made me feel like I was enough. I never felt like the World Ender with you. I never felt less. You are what I’ve been searching for my entire life. You, Dianna, had my heart long before I ever touched yours.”
“Sami.” I couldn’t hold back my tears. My chest heaved, and I tried once more to close his wound. He hissed in pain and grabbed my hand, stopping me.
“I wish I had never left when my world fell. Maybe I would have heard you. Maybe it would have been me to find you and Gabby. I would have loved you then, too.”
Love.
Love.
That word. That damned word.
My heart shattered, my soul erupting into a million pieces, and every broken piece belonged to him. I dropped my head to his, pressing my forehead to his. I focused, trying to pour myself into him and stop what I knew was coming. Tears blurred my vision, scalding my cheeks as they continued to fall.
“You have horrible taste in women,” I choked out through sobs.
His body shook, and a wet gurgling sound bubbled from his lips as if he was trying to laugh even this close to death. That one movement, that one sound, and then complete stillness. Samkiel sagged against me, his hand dropping from my arm, and the world went quiet.
My nightmares were coming true. Samkiel wore the same clothes, only now I knew it was his council garbs. His face, oh gods, all the color was gone from his skin. I had lost him.
No, I couldn’t.
If I could just stop the bleeding, I could… I moved my hands, using my power to try to cauterize the wound again. Samkiel didn’t jerk this time, did not move or twitch. Pulling back, I saw the wound wasn’t bleeding anymore, but not because I had healed him. He just had nothing left in him.
I curled over him and laid my head against his chest, listening for a heartbeat, but I couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of my own heart. I cradled him closer, one hand beneath him, the other on his face.
“Samkiel.” I tapped his cheek. He was cold. He was too cold. Like her. “Samkiel.” Another tap. “Samkiel.” A teardrop fell, leaving a trail across his cheek as it slid away. “Sami,” I said, my voice breaking.
The world stopped shaking, every realm wide open now that he was gone.
