Page 64 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

No, not one of them. Not a slice. Me. The core. Waiting to be reborn pursuant to Seeyr’s plan, Kaly answered.

Seeyr’s plan? I think something has gone wrong with that, Grayson laughed a little bitterly. He thought he heard Eyros laughing along with him. He’d been foolish to trust any plan. The future was ever changing.

No, not wrong. Just different than what you thought, Kaly told him almost gently. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work out exactly how you hoped. Or maybe better. But perhaps that is just my wish.

I can’t make Ryder understand that I want this. I want him to turn me. But I’m dying. I think I might be too far gone, Grayson admitted.

Death is yours to control, Ashyr, Kaly said. So control it.

I…

Control it.

Grayson realized that he couldn’t see Ryder’s face any longer. He was, in fact, seeing the endless stars of the Ever Dark sky. He could feel the slender thread connecting his soul to his body. He willed himself to go back down. He slowly started to descend. But he knew he was moving too slow. The thread was starting to fray. Soon it would snap.

KALY! I can’t do it! I’m losing–

It’s all right. I will help you, Kaly said.

There was a sensation of someone lightly pushing down on the center of Grayson’s chest. The night sky disappeared. He saw the interior of stone then a room filled with light and water then more stone until he was back in his body. It felt like he had fallen from a great height. He drew in a ragged breath.

“Grayson?!” Ryder gasped.

“Thank the gods,” Fiona whispered.

Grayson reached up with a shaking hand and grasped Ryder’s nearest wrist. His lips still could not form words, but he pushed that wrist to Ryder’s mouth. Ryder understood. His fangs came out and he bit down. His blood bright as red rubies, brilliant crimson, poured down his forearm. He pressed that wrist to Grayson’s mouth.

“Drink, my beloved. Come back to the night. Live forever,” Ryder pleaded.

Grayson’s mouth barely moved against that open wound, but as more of that life-giving blood flowed, his mouth clamped down on it and he drank. His eyes closed as the blood rushed into his body. His limbs started to tingle. His body jerked and thrashed, but he kept hold of Ryder’s wrist. The Weryn Vampire soothed him, urging him through this moment where his body was trying to reject the life-giving blood it wasn’t quite ready for. He also thought he felt someone else, holding him, keeping him firmly in this body. The flames in his chest ignited with a whump. Grayson drank and drank and drank.

“That’s right. Take as much as you need. Take it all,” Ryder offered.

That had Grayson’s eyelids popping open and he ceased his feeding. All he needed to do was to weaken Ryder when they were in enemy territory. That was not the plan. Ryder was looking down at him so lovingly. So fiercely. So proud.

“Ashyr. Grayson. Beloved,” Ryder intoned.

Grayson kissed the closing wound. His voice was still hoarse and weak, but he said, “I knew you’d come. I knew it.”

“Always.”

Grayson felt their connection. The blood between them. The millennia of millennia they’d known one another. He heard Ryder’s heart. It beat in turn with his own. The whoosh and shush of his blood was Ryder’s blood. Weryn’s blood. He heard the howling of wolves in the distance. A song. Their song. Ryder smiled.

“Yes, my beloved,” Ryder said. “They sing for us.”

The whole of the Ever Dark spread out before him for a moment. He was seeing through the eyes of all the creatures. Their heartbeat was his. Their breath was his. Their claws were his. Their fangs were his. Because they were all Weryn’s. They lived and died for the Immortal Weryn and now they did for him, too. For he had joined them. A mate to their alpha. Another brilliant moon in the sky.

“The twin moons,” Ryder whispered.

“Us,” Grayson breathed out. “So much… life.”

Where he had always felt alone, he realized he was now connected to every single being in the Ever Dark. He felt their eyes turn towards the ziggurat. They called out their greetings. This was… this was… amazing.

“This is your gift?” Grayson croaked. “Oh, Ryder, I had no idea. I had no idea.”

Ryder caressed his cheek. “Our gift. They celebrate with us. They welcome you home.”

“Home,” Grayson repeated and started laughing and crying. “Home.”