The sound of voices had my brain ticking, as if it were a clock. My vision was obscured by blurriness, as if I’d lost the ability to see. My brain struggled, as if it were misfiring. I felt free of the worry of dying, but did that mean I’d died?
An image slowly began forming in front of me. Something large, something with a halo around it. Fucking hell. I had died! My breathing was erratic, as if my chest hadn’t healed correctly, or maybe it hadn’t healed at all? Blinking frantically past the film covering over my eyes that blocked me from seeing or discerning what was in front of me, I gasped as the picture cleared.
Knox’s sleeping face came into view, forcing my heart to stutter, then beat hastily at the sight of him. Pain drifted through me as awareness slowly flittered through my mind. Had I saved him? Or was he simply caught between the land healing me, which had shoved him into the light?
Reaching up, I touched him with trembling fingers. Parting my lips, I tried to speak, but nothing came out. The simple movement forced agonizing pain to slice through my chest. Sliding my other hand to the hole he’d created, I felt nothing but smooth, supple flesh. Tears wet my lashes, then rolled down my cheeks as I moved my lips, brushing them against his.
“Knox?” I forced out, my voice scratchy from screaming. Knox didn’t move, which sent icy-claws tearing into my flesh.
I could hear the whisper of voices around us, each one fearful of what had happened. Hecate wouldn't let him go without a fight. It was possible she was fighting the land to keep hold of him. He looked peaceful, though. Which sent horrible thoughts racing through my mind.
For hours, I went in and out of consciousness. I struggled against the land’s powerful hold on me. Each time, Knox never responded or awoke. The fourth, or maybe it was the fifth time I awoke, I checked for a pulse, sobbing in relief when I found one.
The warmth of the light we were suspended in was soothing. It persistently healed me, each time my eyes opened, I felt a little more whole. Knox still hadn’t moved by the time I dropped, thudding against the ground with a painful gasp ripping from my lips.
“Knox,” I repeated his name for the hundredth time. “Wake up,” I whispered, sitting beneath him as he hovered weightlessly in the air.
Knox was suspended in the air, even after I’d been released. A frown line formed between my eyes, creasing the skin there. Tears continually streamed down my face, forcing myself up on my knees. I raised shaky hands to touch his face. With my heart in my throat, I pushed his eyelid back, feeling instant relief as it revealed the whites of his eyes.
“Aria?” Esme’s worried voice had my hand jerking back from Knox’s eye, turning to find everyone standing behind me.
“I . . . did you die too?” I whispered, hardly able to speak past the scratchiness of my throat.
“We don’t think so? The light came as he began pulling your . . . his hand out.” Esme only added more to the confusion inside my aching head. “You’ve been suspended by the land for over a week.”
“You scared us, Aria,” Zyion stated, his eyes slowly roving over my face.
Scanning his frame, I noted the bandage, which was obvious without a shirt covering his chest. I wanted to ask if he was okay, but my thoughts drifted back to the battle, flashing through my head on repeat.
Peering around, I noted the clearing was a large chamber. It wasn’t the forest where we’d previously been when I’d lost consciousness. How the hell had we been moved?
“Where are we?” I asked, returning my focus to Knox, who didn’t move at all.
“We’re in a chamber inside the library. I don’t know what the hell happened, but we’re here. You fought him, but you—weren’t doing so hot. He’d put up a shield, or Hecate had. We’re not sure about that one yet. However, it dropped, which allowed us to get closer to you, but a light shot through the ground, and everyone close to it ended up here.”
“It transported us to the library?” I asked, even more befuddled than before.
“Yeah, one of the larger chambers, from what we can tell.”
“That’s . . . weird.”
Knox’s face was slack, as if he’d died. It freaked my brain out, even if I knew the land was healing him. Why was the land healing him? Unless what Scylla said was true. If Draghana had indeed made a sacrifice, then there was another who could fight against Hecate, another part of the prophecy. Knox could be the one she’d been sacrificed to create. Had he known what he was?
“Peasant,” Greer’s soft, calming tone forced me to spin toward where it had sounded.
Greer’s eyes were rimmed with red, as if he’d been crying. Trying to stand, I whimpered as the searing, red-hot pain burned through my chest. Falling over, I barely prevented my face from connecting to the floor of the chamber as I pushed my palms down flat against it. The entire room spun around me. It caused my head to bob around drunkenly. Sitting back down, I tried not to add any more injuries.
“Slowly, Aria,” Greer offered, then knelt in front of me. “You’ve been floating in the light for a few days. You need to give yourself a moment.”
“Why isn’t he waking up?”
“We don’t know. We didn’t know why you weren’t, either. My guess is, the damage was more extensive than any of us realized it would be.” His explanation made sense, but didn’t ease the claws tearing through my mind. “Try to calm down. You’ve endured a lot of pain. Enough that we’ve listened to your screams through the walls for days now. Even asleep, you screamed in agony.”
“But Knox didn’t,” I pointed out, watching his face crumple. Turning back to take in his form, I forced my legs to support my weight. “Because we don’t know if he survived what she did to him. Right?” My heart squeezed painfully as I let the thought enter my mind. Hecate could even now be forcing more darkness into him. “Right?” I demanded again, wanting an answer to why he wasn’t coming out of it, since the land was tied to only me. Or was it?
“The moment the light shot up through the ground, I witnessed the darkness slithering out of him. Snake-like things, which then vanished in a cloud of smoke. As if they couldn’t survive being in the direct light, or the light the land released.” Killian offered, his hand touching my shoulder, then squeezing in silent reassurance.
“We should draw you a bath, then get something into you, Aria,” Greer said carefully, worry sharpening his expression. “Unless you don’t wish to leave him.”
“I want Knox to wake up,” I whispered as tears gripped my throat, choking the words off. “I don’t fucking care about me right now. I’ll be fine once he’s awake.” My words caused a bevy of worried whispers, which I ignored.