Page 134 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

"No!" Lea wept. "Please don’t leave me, Gray. You can’t." She focused back on the ground, where small vines had only begun poking up from the soil. "Why isn’t it working!?" she screamed, snot running from her nose, her tears adding to the flooded soil.

"It requires"—cough—"every… drop," Gray croaked, choking on a clot of blood. "I willalwayslove you," he whispered, his fingers threading through the hair at the nape of her neck.

"I’m going with you," Lea threw herself on top of Gray, his arms wrapping around her as warm blood coated her chest and face. Gray pressed a kiss to her forehead, his lips trembling. Somehow, his hands already felt cold as they rested against her skin.

"I will always love you," he repeated as he weakly turned his head to look at Erik, "but you have to live."

Erik’s callused, stained hands wrapped around Lea’s arms as he pulled her away from Gray, who immediately shielded himself with shadows.

"No!" Lea screamed, kicking and fighting as Erik lifted her from her mate. Lea set her skin on fire, black flames shooting up Erik’s forearms, but he held firm, wrapping his arms more securely around her and hissing in pain as Gray summoned the strength to grab Alaric’s dagger from beside him.

"A sacrifice…" he whispered sadly, blood gurgling from his mouth. "I’m sorry, Little Flower. Forgive me," Gray begged as he raised the razor sharp tip to his chest. Lea threw her shadows out, reaching for the dagger and throwing Erik back into the house as Gray dug the edge of the blade beneath his collarbone, roughly carving the mate bond from his skin with shaking hands.

The pain was paralyzing. Lea’s back arched as the mark was seared from her chest, the bond violently ripping itself from around her heart and shattering into a million tiny pieces, the remnants turning to ash. Her connection to Gray disappeared completely, and her vision went black as she fell to the ground, her lungs struggling to expand. Lea fought to crawl toward Gray, reaching out a hand and screaming a scream that made her throat bleed and the mountains tremble. As Gray’s head fell to the side, a jagged hole where his promise of forever had been, he took one final rattling breath. "Forgive me," he exhaled.

Lea felt the last beat of Gray’s heart in her soul, a soul that withered and turned black, as if Gray had been the only light inside her. Darkness tore across the hill, blocking out the moon and stars as Gray’s body stilled and his green eyes glazed over, reflecting back the world as it erupted in an explosion of flames and shadows.