The sensation sent a shiver through both of us. He tried to lean forward for another kiss, but I held him back, entwining my fingers through his.
“Ashlyn,” he whispered. I released his hands, letting him take command of my body. He traced every curve of me before lacing his fingers through my hair, and in one swift force, he was on top of me. The feeling of the cold hard earth beneath me with his hot skin pressing into me was sheer bliss. I coiled myself around him like a serpent. I wanted to meld into him and never return. It felt as if I were stepping into the sunlight after a lifetime of cold night. It felt all-consuming, electric, destructive, forever, and never.
It was blood and salt.
It was everything.
43
BETH + RHYS
JUST BEFORE DAWN, Dane and I walked hand in hand through the western woods to the old stables to meet Rhys and Beth. I knew last night wasn’t a dream, because my body ached in a way I’d never experienced—a good way. My connection to Dane was something deeper than blood. Deeper than fate. It felt as if nothing could separate us . . . not even Katia.
As we got closer to the west side of Quivira, the scent of blood and lilacs seeped inside of me. I took another step toward the heady scent and I knew something was off.
“Ashlyn, what is it?” Dane slipped his hand around my waist to steady me.
“Lilacs. Where are there lilacs?”
“There are lilac bushes by the old stables, but we’re still half a mile away. Why?”
I took off running, following my senses, and Dane stayed close behind. My lungs burned with the caustic scent, my skin was drenched in cold sweat, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible had happened.
We broke through the forest in front of a decrepit barn engulfed in lilac blooms. The smell of blood hit me with such force, I could hardly breathe.
I ducked under one of the rotting beams blocking the entrance, to find Rhys crouched over Beth’s body. He glanced back at me, a look of pure fear in his eyes. Blood was seeping through a bandage on his cheek.
“All I did was kiss her,” Rhys said in a panic.
“Beth.” My voice quaked as I ran to cradle her in my arms. Her lips were blue, but she still wore her unreadable smile. The ends of a bright yellow ribbon that she’d tied around her neck hung next to her sallow cheek. Her skin was dotted with tiny beads of blood, like she was sweating it from her pores. She felt light in my arms, like a hollowed-out doll, but I saw the slight rise and fall of her chest.
She reached out to touch me, as if to comfort me. “I remember,” she murmured. “I remember everything.”
“We have to get her to a doctor.” Rhys paced the sawdust floor behind me. “I think she has the same thing as the others.”
“I can give her my blood,” I whispered, remembering how Katia had healed Alonso.
“Ash, thanks for being my best friend.” Beth smiled. “But you don’t have to do this. Your blood is sacred and you need your strength. You can overcome her, I’ve seen it.”
“You know what I am, don’t you?” I asked, unable to stop the tears from flowing. “You’ve known all this time.”
“There will be a path to lead us from darkness.” She gave me one last smile before her eyes rolled back in her head.
“You don’t need to keep my secret anymore,” I said. “Let me protect you now.”
“Dane, give me your knife.” He handed it to me and I slit my wrist, holding it up to her mouth. She choked and gagged at first, but I held my arm firmly in place, forcing my blood down her throat.
Rhys raced toward me. “What are you doing?”
Dane held him back. “Saving Beth’s life.”
I felt my life force surging into her, and in return I felt traces of her own flowing into me. Her gentle spirit, her wounded heart: They brimmed over like a waterfall.
My brother stood there, stunned, as the beads of blood retreated back into Beth’s pores and the color returned to her lips.
Dane ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around my wrist like a tourniquet.
“I remember everything,” Beth whispered fervently as she motioned for me to come closer. The way she spoke, the look in her eyes, the intensity reminded me of my mother on the day she left. Beth clutched my arm. “Spencer . . . he’s the one who hurt me,” she said as she reached up and felt the scar running across her skull. “I found out he made a deal with Coronado—he was giving Spencer his blood. They used Teresa to bring the Larkins through the corn. Men, women, children . . . they’re all dead.” Dane sank to his knees beside Beth. I felt despair and shame wash over him.
“Someone needs to tell me what the hell’s going on!” Rhys said.
This was the moment I’d been dreading. I unwrapped the cloth from my wrist and stood to show my brother my already-healed skin. “I’m the vessel.”