Page 145 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
"No," I choked. I lowered my forehead toward his, sobs racking my chest. "Please, Rick, I want you. Only you. Don't do this. Can't you see I'm yours? I've always been yours."
He reached up and tangled his fingers in my hair. "It is too late, Grateful. Already, my power fades. My only regret is I thought it would take longer. I thought I could save you first. But the moment I lit the wick, it began. And now it's too late. The candle burns inside my cottage, and in a few more hours, I will be completely human. And then I will die." He lifted his hand from a particularly nasty wound in his chest.
Grateful. He called me Grateful, not mi cielo. Not his sky. He'd already let me go. He'd resigned himself to his humanity. I sobbed until my shoulders shook violently.
He stroked my hair back from my face. "I suspect this emotion has more to do with your survival than your true feelings. Don't you see that what is inside of you is more powerful than anything inside of me? All you have to do is access it. An entire universe of magic and power is at your fingertips. Call the power to you. I can't help you anymore. Not this time."
As if I'd bungee jumped into his brain, the cord of our connection snapped me back into my body abruptly and with enough pain to make me scream. Or was the scream from the torture happening behind my breastbone? Rick had left me. My own caretaker had given up on me.
"She wakes," Naill said, walking his stubby legs over to my side. "Relax. Queen Bathory is preparing for the ceremony."
"What does she want with me? She already has the book."
He ran a thick finger down the length of my arm and flashed a smile wide enough to show all his gold teeth. "I'm so glad you asked. Legend has it that there is a spell in the Book of Flesh and Bone that will render a vampire truly immortal. Impervious to daylight, strong without the need for blood. After sunset, the queen will open the book and know the exact preparation for the spell, but one ingredient is a certainty, passed down to her from generations of vampires."
"My heart."
"Any supernatural heart will do. We'd planned to use one of the lesser vamps. We thought you'd be dead by now, after all. As it turned out, you and the book are a convenient two for one deal. Frankly, I was surprised you survived the army of nekomata who attacked you, but then we hadn't counted on lover boy joining the fray." Naill glanced toward the cage.
"Rick?"
"He killed most of the clan outside your house before we took him down. Lucky for us about the candle. And to think we had nothing to do with that. He did it to himself." His wicked laugh drilled into me like machine gun fire.
But he came. The thought gripped me, sending a bolt of electricity down my spine. Rick had already made the decision to become human when he joined the fight. He was willing to die for me, a real, eternal death. That must mean something.
I leaned my head back against the stone as Naill wandered off toward the fire.
"Soleil?"
"Yes."
"Any chance you could grant me that favor you promised?"
"Unfortunately, the mud has rendered that impossible. I am sorry."
The sky was darkening. Sunset. Soon, Bathory would come for my heart. But she couldn't have it. My heart wasn't mine to give; it already belonged to someone else. And whether he liked it or not, I was going to get us out of this and end that candle before it was too late. Because at that moment I realized Rick still loved me. He had to. Not only was he offering to give up his immortality for me, he'd risked his humanity too.
He loved me, and I loved him. I knew it in my bones-whether or not Rick chose to admit it. Bathory was about to find out just how powerful those feelings could be.
ony
I came around but didn't open my eyes. Better possessed-Kai didn't know I was conscious. Cold, so cold. As I shivered, my back bounced against a rock hard surface. I was bound, hands, waist, and ankles. Damn, I was getting sick of waking up bound. Listening carefully, all I could make out was wind across my ear, the crackle of burning wood, and icy wet hitting my skin. I was outside, maybe freezing to death.
"Are you alive?" Soleil's voice whispered.
I cracked my eyes open. The dim, winter sky above me dribbled tiny snowflakes that stung my eyes and cheeks. I blinked them away and turned my head to the left. Soleil was tied to a tree a few feet away from me, and she looked like hell, as if someone had beaten her within an inch of her life, then smothered her in mud.
"Deep water mud dulls my power. I'd warm you but I can't even muster a faint glow," she said sadly.
With a ridiculous amount of effort, I strained my neck to look down my body. I was tied to a stone slab, about three feet off the ground. I couldn't see much else except that we were in the woods somewhere. A small fire to my right barely nudged back the frosty weather, but because of my restraints, I couldn't see beyond the topmost flicker of the flames.
I whispered to Soleil, "Can you see what I'm tied to? Is there any way for me to free myself?"
She shook her head. "You are bound to a stone altar. She plans to cut out your heart." Her voice sounded hopeless, and a shiny gold tear cut through the mud on her cheek.
"My heart? Wha-can you see Nightshade?" I struggled against my restraints.
"Shhh." Soleil warned me to calm down with stern eyes. "Your blade is resting on top of the tied bag that holds your bird, about fifteen feet to your left, guarded by a sleeping leprechaun."
