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“It will not work.”
My head whipped up, and I stared at Roccurem. His form shimmered before solidifying again. I gasped as he slid down the wall. Half his form wafted off of him in tendrils. Nismera had not missed in her rage. Roccurem smiled, half of his face nothing but a swirling dark mass. I was losing him, too.
“I wanted to repay the debt I owed Unir for protecting me. I did everything in my power to bring you and Samkiel together to avoid all of this. But I had to do it in a way Nismera and her legion would not see. A whisper on the wind to get Zekiel to that cavern. A small idea of a bond sealed in blood, prolonging the trip you and Samkiel would take to search for the book. A push, sending you to the vampires you thought were friends. A kiss from a witch. All for this. For salvation from a goddess of pure hate.”
A sob escaped me.
I looked down at Samkiel. He was limp in my arms and deathly gray, all his color stripped away, my sunshine gone. My soul cleaved in two. Pain didn’t come close to describing what I felt holding him. This was brutal agony, and I didn’t know if I would survive a loss like this again.
“I tried to speed up the progression of the mark. I tried to help. Even with the prophecy, I warned you both.”
My head snapped toward Roccurem. “Prophecy?”
Roccurem’s three unwounded, opaque eyes stared at Samkiel and me. “One falls, one rises, and the end begins. So it was foretold the second Unir bound his son. One carved from darkness is you. One carved from light is him. The world will shudder as it does now. This is how the world ends.”
“I can’t… I can’t do this again. I won’t survive.”
Even the fate seemed to crumble at the plea in my voice. “You can.”
My hand closed over Samkiel’s, the coldness seeping into my very bones. I jerked my gaze toward Roccurem.
“What about the mark? I’m his amata, right?”
“Yes. You have already started the bonding, but it is unfinished.”
A sharp chill fell into the room, and my skin prickled. I didn’t take my eyes off Roccurem, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we weren’t alone anymore. I cradled Samkiel’s body closer to me and stared at Roccurem. The cold mist, whatever it was, seemed to hesitate.
“Tell me how it works.” The words were a strangled whisper.
“I am unsure if that will hel—”
“Tell me!” I bellowed, my voice deep and cruel, the sound of an ancient and violent creature.
Roccurem flinched. The universe halted. The cold in the room grew spiky in alarm.
“The first step in the ritual is blood.”
Our blood deal.
Blood of my blood.
Reggie’s form wavered as if he struggled to hold himself together. “The second step is body.”
Sex.
I want you.
“Last, and most important, is the soul. That is all the Mark of Dhihsin truly is. It is a sealing of a soul split. Your power becomes their power.”
“Soul?”
“Love is the purest expression of a soul you can share, and the words spoken seal the mark. It is the final step. I thought it would be spoken sooner, but you are both damaged, stubborn creatures.”
Hope flared in my chest.
“Samkiel told me he loved me before… If I say it, is there a chance?”
Roccurem glanced behind me, and I didn’t need to turn to know death hovered, waiting and watching.
