*Nathaniel
The door clicked shut behind me with a finality I didn’t like. It sounded too much like goodbye. Too much like loss.
I stood there in the small, dim infirmary room, my hand still on the handle, heart pounding in my chest like a war drum. She was curled in the bed beneath those sterile white sheets, her skin pale and glistening with sweat. The fever hadn’t broken, Her breaths came shallow and fast, like every inhale was a battle.
She looked so small.
So breakable.
And it was killing me.
I crossed the room slowly, the silence in here too heavy, too loud. The nurse had left a few minutes ago, giving me space. Or maybe she couldn’t bear to watch me fall apart anymore. Either way, I was alone now. Alone with her.
With the girl I’d loved since I was sixteen.
With the girl whose life was slipping through my fingers.
I sat in the chair beside her bed, the metal creaking beneath me like even it wasn’t built to hold this much quilt. My eyes drank her in. The bandage on her neck. The bruises at the edges of it. Her lips, dry and chapped. Her hands, trembling slightly as they lay atop the blanket.
She whimpered
Her eyes fluttered open for half a second, glassy and unfocused.
And then she smiled.
Not at me.
Not really.
“Max” she whispered, and my chest cracked open.
I stood up so fast the chair screeched behind me, slamming into the wall.
Max
She thought I was Max.
I wanted to scream. To punch the wall. To find that bastard and finish what I started in the courtyard. But instead, I gritted my teeth and breathed through my rage. I reminded myself that she was delirious. That she didn’t mean it.
That he’d done this to her.
I took a step back toward the bed, gently reaching for her hand. It was clammy and weak in mine. But it was still hers. “Jiselle,” I said softly. “It’s me.”
She blinked, the fog in her eyes clearing just enough to register something. But then she laughed–a broken, dazed sound. “They’re gonna kill him,” she murmured, voice slurred. “Eva was crying. Said it’s law. But I said no. I said…. he’s not a monster. He’s not. He just didn’t want to lose me.”
My jaw locked.
So it was true.
She dropped the charges.
She told them not to execute him.
I leaned down, my voice shaking with fury I couldn’t hold in anymore. “You defended him?”
Her brows knit together in confusion, her lips twitching. “He’s Eva’s brother. She loves him. I couldn’t. I couldn’t take that away from her”
“You think this is about Eva?” I snapped. “He marked you, Jiselle. Against your will. He nearly killed you.”
Her eyes fluttered again. I’m so tired…”
I sat back down, dragging my hands down my wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her
She was slipping away
I could feel it
And I was powerless to stop it.
Dealule Tujhvember wanted to scream. But more than anything, I Successfully unlocked!
Chapter 5-1
“I’ve been talking to Bastain, I muttered, not sure if she could even hear me. “He’s looked through every record the academy has Every ancient book, every sacred text. There’s only one chance left. One thing that might save you” Her head rolled slightly on the pillow, her eyes barely cracked open now.
“But it has to be your choice.” I whispered. “You have to say yes. If I try it and you don’t want it, it could kill you faster” I reached for her hand again, cradling it in both of mine.
“This wasn’t how I wanted this to go. You were supposed to choose me because you loved me. Because you wanted a future with me. Not because I was your only shot at survival.”
I exhaled slowly, trying to ground myself.
“Do you know what today’s been like?” I asked, voice cracking. I’ve spent the last twelve hours watching healers try every trick they have. I watched Eva beg you not to die. Watched Ethan sit in the hallway with his head in his hands because he didn’t know how to make sense of this.
And me? I couldn’t sit still I tried. But all I could think about was how the last words you said to me were 1 didn’t choose you.
“What a goodh
I laughed bitterly. “What a goodbye, huh?”
I leaned forward, pressing her hand to my chest, just over my heart.
“It’s yours, Jiselle. It’s always been yours. Since we were sixteen. Since the day I realized your laugh made my chest ache and your tears felt like acid on my skin ”
I looked at her again.
ist want
“I don’t care about Max. I don’t care about the academy, or the law, or any of the shit we’ve been caught up in I just you to live. Even if you never choose me. Even if you leave this room and run straight into his arms. I just…. want you alive.” She didn’t move.
Didn’t blink,
And so I stood.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m gonna go,” I said quietly, brushing her hair back from her forehead. “I’ll come back later, okay? Just rest. Just-”
I froze
My heart stopped.
Slowly, I turned back.
Her eyes were still closed. Her lips barely moved. But I heard it.
I heard it.
“Yes.”
I walked back to the bed, sinking into the chair again, eyes never leaving her face.
“You mean it?” I whispered.
A faint nod.
That was all.
But it was enough
It was everything
Relief swelled in my chest so fast and so hard it nearly crushed me. I closed my eyes, exhaling a breath I felt like I’d been holding for days. For a moment, everything else disappeared. The academy, the rules, Max, the pain–none of it mattered She said yes
She said yes
I rose slowly, like I didn’t want to startle the moment, didn’t want to break whatever fragile, divine thread had been spun between us just now,
I leaned over her, brushing her sweat–drenched hair from her cheek, my lips ghosting just above her ear
“I need you to be still, baby,” I murmured, my voice hourse with emotion “It’s going to hurt but only for a second. And then you’ll be mine Fully Finally”
where
I kissed the corner of her jaw, slow, reverent, then lowered my mouth toward the soft skin of her neck–right over v Max’s fading mark already looked bruised and sickened. The spot meant for me
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Chapter 54
But before I could bite down
Her body jolted
Hard
So violently I stumbled back in shock as her spine arched off the bed. Her eyes rolled back. Her limbs jerked erratically beneath the blanket.
“Jiseller
Subsembed
