Page 84 of Soul Redeemed

“When Oliver said that being with someone other than the Sang would result in tragedy. He didn’t mean for you.”

“You’re going to be fine. You hear me? Fine.” Calix stroked her hair that still held the wet muculent texture of the cocoon.

“I love you, Calix. Just in case … whatever happens. You should know I’ve always loved you.” Her eyes shuttered close, and he frowned down at her, the knots in his gut twisting to an unbearable bulge that scarcely allowed a breath.

No, no.

“Ava? Ava!” He shook her body, but it didn’t move with the jostling. “Ava!”

“Doctor Drechler is here, Masters.” Anna’s voice couldn’t peel his attention from Ava’s face, so peaceful, as if she slept.

“Calix, let him examine her.” Gavin’s voice reached his ears, but failed to make him move.

“Ava,” he muttered, watching her blur through a sheen of tears. “Ava!”

A firm grip of his shoulders tugged him away, but Calix thrashed out of the hold on him.

“Ava! Wake up!”

Once again, arms wrapped around his chest, dragging him away from her. One singular objective called him to stay by her side. A sickness deep inside his gut told him she was drifting away, and all he could think to do was hold on to her. Calix twisted to get loose, but the arms that held him were unrelenting, and he stood, muscles-tense, while the doctor took his place beside her.

“I know what you’re going through, Brother. I know this pain.” Logan’s voice carried a tone in his ear like he’d never heard before. One brimming with understanding and true remorse, that if he’d not been reluctant to ignore everything around him, he might’ve been comforted by it.

As it was, nothing could comfort him right then.

“She’s dying.” Drechler’s grim words sent a cold stab of pain to Calix’s heart, and another shield of tears distorted his vision. “It seems the virus has entered her bloodstream, causing sepsis. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do at this point. It’s taken hold of her.”

“There is, though!” Spittle shot from Calix’s mouth, while the irritating blur of tears left him rapidly blinking them away. “Calla, she was cured. The baby’s blood cured her. All I gotta do is give her my blood. It weakens the virus.”

The doctor’s gaze fell away from his, shriveling Calix’s hope. “She’s too far gone for that, Calix. It’s spreading faster than your blood could reach it.”

“I won’t let her die! Not for me!” Calix jerked out of his brother’s grasp and fell to his knees, crawling across the floor to the bed. When he reached Ava, her body cold and lifeless, his muscles shook with rage and pain. So much pain, he could hardly hold himself upright. The agony roiled in his gut, while flashes of an impossibly happy life with her played behind his eyelids.

Her laughing as he chased her through the gardens. The contentment in her eyes as he held her in bed. The wonder and bliss that’d stare back at him as she held their son.

All of it crashed over him in tidal waves of misery and anguish.

“Ava.” He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. “There are so many things that I need to say to you right now. But I’ve already told you the most important,” he whispered as he stroked her hair. “Do you remember?” Tears choked his question, and Calix swallowed back the urge to break down in front of his brothers, who stood around him while a somber hush blanketed the room. He pushed forward, pressed his lips to her forehead and spoke against her skin. “Not even in death.”

Calix couldn’t bring himself to back away from her, because the moment he did, he’d be faced with the reality that she was gone. Once a magnetic force in his life that’d kept him tethered, suddenly a hollow void that he’d never fill.

“I can save her.” The voice from behind wouldn’t have reached him, had it not been for her words. He peeled himself away, turning to see Thais standing in the doorway, where Xander held a chain attached to her throat. “There is a way.”

Anger snarled Calix’s lip as he made a slow rise from the floor and lurched toward the female. “And why should I believe you?”

“Because you don’t have a choice. It’s dangerous and painful. And could still kill her.”

Calix didn’t dare allow the blossom of hope in his chest to spread so much that he’d actually believe her. “What is it?”

“I would cleanse her with hellsfire.”

“Madness!” Drechler’s voice bounced off the walls. “This voodoo isn’t medicine, it’s unnatural! One slip could kill every person in this room!”

“Wait a minute.” Logan stepped forward, shaking his head. “I’m not putting my tazschla and child at risk. I don’t want to be a dick here, but you don’t fuck with hellsfire.”

Thais’s gaze remained fixed on Calix, as if she spoke only to him. “I can do it. I’ve done it before. The flame will touch no one but Ava.”

“My kids live under this roof as well.” Sabelle seemed to chew on her bottom lip, brows upturned.