Page 152 of Lethal Souls

“I don’t know if this will work.” I stand over Rowan, my heart beating twice as fast. Being this close to him makes my stomach twist. “My poor brother.”

“Just try,” Willow whispers. “For the family. For him.”

I steel my jaw, fighting the flashbacks of the scorpion tailed creature sticking him like a dagger. But fighting it does me no good, and instead I drop to my knees and press my head to his arm.

“It’s my fault.” My tears fall, hot and thick. They sizzle when they land on the cool wooden floor. He’s dead because of me. I can’t do this.

“Hey.” A hand smooths my hair back while another raises my chin. Willow points my face up, and I look at her. Her eyes spark as she looks down at me with a smile. “What did Hassha say? You have it all in you now, Caz. Whatever you put your mind to, you can do.”

“She’s right. Trust yourself,” Yuri says.

“But this is different,” I say out loud for both of them to hear. “If I fail—if it doesn’t work—I’ll never forgive myself.”

Willow reaches for my hand and brings me back to a stand.

“Try,” she says, nodding. “I believe in you.”

I draw in a breath, sliding my attention to the cold body below. My eyes close. I grip Willow’s hand, feeling her energy course through me.

My mind drifts out of Rowan’s chamber to search for remnants of Selah’s spilled blood. Drops of it cling to the broken pieces of the warlands. When I find it, the droplets rise in the air. I force them to come to me, to find me.

Then I open my eyes and raise a hand to the double doors leading to the balcony, summoning them open. An orb of dark blood appears, and I watch it float through the room. It doesn’t stop until it’s above Rowan’s body.

I cut my eyes to Willow, and she releases my hand. I grab one of the knives from Rowan’s weapon rack to cut into my palm and draw blood. Clenching my hand into a fist, I squeeze the blood into Rowan’s wound before my hand can heal. Then I let the orb sink into the wound too.

Our blood merges and sparks, orange clashing with red, but the red overpowers the orange and dissolves completely. Light spreads through him, and to my surprise, the black veins around his wound disappear. His skin stitches together at a rapid pace.

I release a trapped breath as relief hits me straight in the gut.

It’s working.

“Bring him back to us the way that he was,” I whisper.

The wound is gone now, revealing Rowan’s solid upper abdomen. I wait, heart thundering in my chest, for any sign that he’s alive again.

And then I see it.

The color returning to his skin. His lips shifting from blue to pink. His chest rising as it fills with breath.

“Oh my gosh,” Willow breathes. “It worked. Love of Vakeeli, it worked.” She dashes to the door and swings it open, which causes Killian to stumble in sideways. Knowing him, he had his ear pressed to the door.

“Come,” I tell them, flicking my fingers.

They rush inside, surrounding the bed, watching as Rowan breathes in and out. Then slowly, his eyes peel open, and a groan escapes him.

“Caz?” Rowan croaks, eyeing me. My heart pumps with nothing but pure joy. “Oi, I had the worst fucking nightmare of my life, I shit you not!”

“Rowan!” Maeve cries, throwing herself at him. She collapses on his chest and hugs him so tight he wheezes. “Oh, my son. You’re alive!”

“Well, of course I’m alive, Mum,” Rowan chuckles.

I can’t help laughing as tears line my eyes. Killian and Juniper join their mother, crying as they hold him equally as tight.

“That was no nightmare, brother,” Killian says, chuckling. “You literally fucking died.”

“Did I?” Rowan asks, eyes expanding. They all pull back so he can sit up. “Fuck me. So I lost the bet then?” he asks Killian.

Killian laughs and playfully punches his upper arm. “You lost the fucking bet. But it doesn’t matter because you saved my life, brother, and I’ll owe you for the rest of mine.”