Chapter 48

H er fingers twitched.

Her chest heaved.

Her head raised.

The weight of a thousand bricks lifted from my heart.

Aculeus was too busy gloating, too busy looking at me, tormenting me, to notice.

Every part of my body was hurting, but I felt like smiling.

Those minutes she was gone had been the longest of my damn life. I knew if she didn't come back, if the bond failed, if the antidote failed, I would've let the demon kill me, just as he wanted.

I couldn't live without her. Not again.

When Emily suggested this plan, I despised that she was right, hated that this was the only solution to trick Aculeus. He had to believe the soulstone was lost, and the only way to do that was to stop Kerys's heart.

How could I fucking agree to kill my wife?

Shooting that thorn at her, injuring her, murdering her—it was my worst nightmare come true. She had agreed, knew what she was getting into, but taking her life was the most wretched of all my crimes. And if by some cruel turn of fate, she died and I survived the demon, I would have turned a blade on myself again, and this time, nobody could have stopped me.

But Emily's spell and antidote worked.

Kerys was alive, and that meant she was counting on me. Even if it felt like every bone in my body was broken, even if I was dizzy from blood loss—I had to fulfill my part.

We were almost there. Just a few more steps. I had to get Aculeus really fucking angry, had to make him lose that last thread of control, make him want to get up close and personal to finish me off.

Thank the Gods, I had saved the best for last.

"With Kerys dead, you'll never get to use the soulstone on me. How that must sting! The great Aculeus's plan, so carefully curated and yet ruined by a puny mortal he couldn't control. Pathetic!" I spat.

That did it.

I didn't listen to what he said, focusing my wavering consciousness on his body language. When he charged forward, I was ready.

I twisted, and the impact of his form knocked the breath from me. We fell, my head slamming onto the roof tiles. My skull felt like splitting, but I fought back with all I had, the desert spinning as we wrestled, until finally?—

Green runes flickered to life all around us, and gargled, blood-drenched laughter welled in my throat.

Aculeus froze, his fist of thorns an inch from my forehead, and I wished he had a damn face, just so I could've seen the stupid look on it. He shot to his feet and tried to step outside of the circle. With a hiss, he recoiled as if he'd hit a wall. He slashed at it, vines and claws and shadows, but the circle held.

Emily's assumption was correct.

Because I shared a part of Aculeus's power, because the same corruption flowed through my veins, the runes reacted to him, weakened him. Trapped him.

And limping toward the circle, propped up by Emily, was Kerys—soulstone in hand. My heart fluttered. She was stunning, hair messy, determination crinkling her forehead, and conviction in her eyes.

There was only one issue, one risk we'd anticipated, but accepted.

The circle had an effect on me , too. A worse one than on the demon.

I reached for my magic, but no amount of willpower could ignite the spark within me. While my powers might have been entirely suppressed, Aculeus's were far greater, even now—and judging by the vine lashing at me, tearing open my healthy forearm while I gritted my teeth, he was about to prove it.

His shadow vine wrapped around my neck, lifting me high. I choked, kicking weakly, but I couldn't reach him. So long as the circle was active, I was as useless as any damn mortal.

"Let me out, or I will kill him!" Aculeus howled.

My eyes fixed on Kerys and I prayed she could read the words in them.

Don't listen to him. Don't give up .

She smiled, and though I was a defenseless hostage, suffocation burning my lungs, warmth coiled through my chest.

Fuck, I would have died for that smile and that cute dimple on her left cheek. For those blue eyes. For the crinkle in her nose. For that little star-shaped birthmark on the nape of her neck.

Black crept into my vision, but I kept looking at her.

If my death meant she would be free of the demon and live safely, live freely, my sacrifice had purpose.

"No, Aculeus," Kerys said, tone hoarse, but firm. "After a hundred years of scheming and plotting, you fail ."

Her brow furrowed. She swayed, but Emily steadied her as the soulstone began to glow. Her lips moved rapidly, reciting the spell like a fervent, desperate prayer, like she wouldn't stop until her plea was heard.

By shadows' void, where darkness reigns,

A stone to bind in blood and chains.

Through silence, deceit, and regret its power swells,

To imprison this dreadful monster from the Hells .

The stream of words flowed like a river, weaving syllables into one another, over and over. Aculeus squeezed harder, and my spine ached. Creaked. If he applied more pressure, my bones would just sna?—

The demon stumbled, letting go.

Like a sack of sand, I fell. I grabbed my throat, gasping and coughing as I laid on the ground, too weak to move.

Aculeus's form wavered. "Emily," he cooed, his tone suddenly turning saccharine. "If you release me, I will grant you any wish. Greater power, immortality. I could even take you to the Hells, show you things few other mortals have seen."

Emily's head tilted. She tapped her lips with her free hand, humming. "Sorry." She grinned. "I think I'd rather watch you lose."

"No!" the demon screeched. "You can't kill me or he will die, too! And you will never, never contain me!"

Kerys's knees wobbled, hands trembling, but she kept standing. She kept casting, her unblinking eyes wide open. Sweat ran down her temples, a drop of blood trickling from her nose over her lips.

Aculeus wailed in rage as his limbs turned to black mist. "One day I will have my revenge and all of you will regret ever drawing your first breath!"

"You're wrong about that, too," Emily cut in. "And if you try, we'll be ready for you. We defeated you once, and we can do it again."

The demon's hips and torso dissolved into shadows, too, and last, his head joined the swirling darkness. In a steady stream, it was drawn through the barrier to the soulstone, filling the inside.

Kerys's chest heaved, but still, she held out.

Only when the last wisp disappeared into the glowing gem, her legs buckled, and Emily sunk to the ground with her, gently helping her to sit down. Emily dispelled the circle with a wave of her hand, and the hum of my magic filled me once more, slowly beginning to mend my injuries. Too slowly.

Smiling, Emily took the jewel from Kerys. She offered her a hand, but my wife shook her head, her gaze flicking to me. With a tired grin on her lips, she crawled toward me. She giggled, dragging herself across the ground on hands and knees.

"I—" I coughed again, the sour taste of copper on my tongue. "I should make you crawl for me some time," I said, smirking. "If I hadn't lost so much blood, I'd be fucking hard as Hells right now."

"I'll remember that," she responded with a snicker and fell against me.

I groaned in pain, but my heart was light. Feeling her close, the beat of her pulse, the rise of her ribs as she breathed—it was worth ignoring the agony fracturing my body. It took all my remaining strength to wrap an arm around her, and she cuddled into me.

"I'll never let you die again," I whispered. "Next time we die together."

"It's a deal," she said. "I've never been so scared, Skrain."

My chest tightened. "I'm sorry. For everything. I should have insisted on a different method, I understand if you hate me after I really was the one who killed you this time and?—"

"No," she interrupted, her voice soft. "I mean, yes, dying again was scary, there's no denying that. But the worst part, the part that terrified me more than anything, was to see you helpless while my soul was tethered to Emily. Watching you get injured, knowing I couldn't save you, knowing if you died, your soul would be devoured, and I couldn't even find you in the next life …" Her breath hitched as she shook her head. "Those moments were my own, personal Hells, Skrain."

"We're together now, my darling wife." I twisted and kissed the top of her head. "Nothing will ever tear us apart again, I promise. And I'm so proud of you." I wheezed, craning my neck to look at Emily. " Both of you."

"I told you I'd have your back," Emily said and laughed, but I could see the fatigue alongside relief in her dim eyes, her shoulders falling. "If you two have rested down there quite enough, I'll patch you both up. I brought a medkit, just in case my magic is too exhausted. But don't worry, I've fixed worse, and Skrain is already starting to heal. Then we'll hurry home. I hear we have a special occasion to plan."

Kerys huffed in agreement. "Do you remember what you promised me, Skrain?"

I raised a brow. "I make a lot of promises to you, and I will keep them all, my priceless treasure. But you'll have to remind me which one you're referring to right now."

"A wedding. You promised me another wedding!" Kerys said, squirming. "But you haven't even proposed yet."

I felt like slapping myself. How the Hells had I forgotten to pop the most important fucking question?

My ribs creaked like thin, very breakable, very painful twigs as I pushed myself upright and pulled Kerys with me. I swallowed hard. The desert spun, but I didn't care. Fuck my injuries—I had the most beautiful, most intelligent, most amazing woman across all realms to propose to.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier, and I'll ask again with a ring, but for now, please, Kerys, hear me out."

She gave a shy nod, a hint of color returning to her face as she blushed.

"I might be a cynical man. A brutal man, who is difficult to love, with a heart as cold and hard and volatile as emeralds wrapped in thorns." Wincing from the agony of my wounds, I set kisses on her brow, the tip of her nose, then her lips. "But this emerald heart of thorns is yours. You make it bloom, and what good are thorns without roses? Just like that, I'm nothing without you. And because I can't live a day without you, because I can't take a single breath without you, I ask …"

I took her hands into mine, my thumb caressing across her knuckles.

"Will you marry me again , Keryssa?"

She bit her lip. Tears welled in her eyes, but she smirked, showing me that damn kissable dimple.

"Fuck yes, I'll marry you, Skrain Ra'shok!" she shouted. "In this life and the next, and the next …" She leaned her forehead against mine, her giggle a breeze across my lips. "You'll never get rid of me again. I'll marry you so often, you'll get sick of me!"

I laughed, seeing stars from the damn pain behind my ribs, but I couldn't look away from her. "Try me."

Kerys grasped my chin, her other hand tucking strands of blood-matted hair behind my ear while she spoke. "I don't care how cynical and brutal you are. I don't give a damn about what you've done in the past, the theft or the murders, and there is no evil you could commit in the future that would make me care less about you. You're my other half, Skrain. I promise from now until eternity, until my soul ceases to exist, I'll love you—thorns and all."

My strength left me, and I fell onto my aching side, grinning at the dusky twilight sky.

It had taken a Gods damned century to get my wife back, to hold her again, make her want me again.

But tomorrow, when the rising, golden sun turned the sands pink and purple and orange, we'd start over. We had a life to live, a house to fill with laughter, new memories to make.

And somehow, deep inside that thorny heart of mine, I knew our second chance would be even sweeter than the first.