Page 6 of Treasured
Sebastian’s lips twitched, and he pulled his mouth away from my wrist. “I am awake, darling.”
Happiness flooded through me at the sound of his voice. He was awake. He would be okay.
He was…
In pain.
Mere seconds after waking, Sebastian’s face crumpled. He groaned, pressing a hand against his temple. “Damn it all.”
At the same time, my headache worsened. “What’s happening to us?” I asked.
He grimaced, sweat forming on his forehead as he pushed himself to unsteady feet. He rubbed his head, and his shoulders bent.
“The queen… she’s…” He paused, drawing in a shaky breath. “She’s summoning me back to Castle Sanguis.”
A Painful Summons
SEBASTIAN
Queen Marguerite’s summons was a pounding, throbbing, never-ending demand as it pulsed in my mind.
Come, come, come, it called me. It was an incessant drum, its unwanted rhythm growing louder by the second.
Every moment I ignored my Maker’s call, a dagger stabbed into my skull. Each one struck the same spot until agony was all I knew.
My breath came in ragged bursts. Stumbling on the snow, I groaned and slammed my fists into a nearby blackened tree. The bark was rough, and my knuckles split.
I did it again, and the pain of the summons eased momentarily before returning with a vengeance. Roaring, I punched the tree again and again and again.
“Sebastian!” Luna called my name, but I couldn’t look at her.
I couldn’t stop. If I did, I would remember the Tether and that she felt the summons, too. And if I did that, if I remembered she was hurting because of me, I might break.
So, instead, I kept going. Pain of a different kind ran through me. The summons quieted down. The trunk was soon red with blood. My knuckles were a mess of broken skin filled with hundreds of splinters. Each was a tiny stake in my hand. Blood poured from the wound, and my shadows throbbed and writhed.
Anguish was my entire existence. I’d never hurt like this before.
Come back, the summons called, their song never-ending. Come, come, come.
I tried to bury the call, but the more I pushed against it, the louder it became.
I groaned, slamming my hands against the tree. When I stumbled back, two bloody prints remained.
“Sebastian,” Luna whispered. Her hand, so much smaller than mine, landed on my shoulder. “Let me see.”
She pulled me back, and I let her turn me around. Mutely, I presented my injured appendages in all their damaged glory.
Luna gasped. She ran her fingers over my broken flesh and shook her head. “Why did you do that?”
“The call…” I grit my teeth, breathing through my nose. “It hurts.”
“I know.”
Her admission was a silver-tipped dagger piercing my heart.
She reached up, carefully removing a long pin from her hair. Using it like a pair of tweezers, she pulled out the first splinter. I cursed, unable to hold it in.
“You ridiculous vampire,” she said softly, studying my damaged hands. “You shouldn’t have done this to yourself.”