Page 83 of His Darkest Desire

Kinsley returned to Vex and knelt on the cushion beside him. “Vex, I have the tincture.”

If he’d heard her, he made no indication of it. Perspiration coated his face, and though his eyes were closed, there was no peace to be found in his strained features. He’d moved his hands to his belly to clutch the bloody wounds, but his curled fingers and claws only worsened the bleeding.

“Stop!” She took hold of his hands and drew them away. “Please, Vex, you’re hurting yourself.”

Shifting closer to his head, Kinsley brushed aside the damp strands of hair clinging to his forehead. His flesh was burning. He turned his face toward her as though seeking more of her touch.

“Shade said you needed to drink some of this.” She wiggled the cork stopper free before gently grasping his cheeks and forcing open his mouth. Tipping the bottle, she allowed one drop, followed soon by a second, to spill onto his tongue.

“Are you sure that’s enough, Shade?” Kinsley asked as she released Vex and recorked the bottle.

“For now,” the wisp replied, hovering over Vex. Their ghostfire was dimmer than ever around their dark core. “He will need more in time.”

“So there’s nothing else I can do to help him?”

“You are here. That is far more than he had before.”

Kinsley’s brow furrowed. “Before? This is what happened the other day, isn’t it? When he left me in the library?”

“Yes.”

“He was gone for five days…” She recalled his appearance when he’d caught her trying to enter this very room. Haggard, pale, tired. There’d been a hint of it even when he’d visited during her bath. “He was recovering that whole time?”

“He was. Fae suffer not the illnesses of mortals, but wounds inflicted by a barghest can make even the strongest unseelie fae sick.” Shade’s ghostfire dwindled. “This one searched with Echo, Flare, and the magus for eggs after the mother-beast was felled. These ones failed.”

“Why do you think you failed?”

“The barghest that attacked you was fresh hatched, infused with magic from the ley line. Magic siphoned while within its egg.” Shade brushed her with their ghostfire. “The magus bade these ones to keep vigil. To keep you safe. For seelie, a barghest’s bite is death.”

And since Kinsley was seelie…

That was why Vex had been so distraught over whether the barghest had injured her. Despite his own wounds, despite knowing what would befall him, all his fear and concern had been for her wellbeing.

Kinsley stared down at him. His chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths, his face was taut, and his fingers clawed at the bedding as his head lolled.

Leaning closer, she smoothed her hand over his brow and stroked the scars at the corner of his eye with her thumb.

“Rest, Vex,” she said softly. She turned and started to withdraw her hand, meaning to go get some supplies to clean him up, but was stopped short when he caught her wrist. When Kinsley looked back down, she was surprised to find his eyes upon her.

“Stay,” he rasped.

Her heart quickened even as something tightened in her chest. The masks he’d worn during their short time together had fallen away, leaving a direct view into his soul. A direct view into his pain, his loneliness, his fear, his need.

His need…for her.

Despite the dirt and blood, she could not leave him. Not yet.

Kinsley shifted her body to lie on her side next to him and slid her hand to his cheek. “I will.”

His eyes fell shut, and some of the tension in his body eased. Though he did not stir again, he also did not relinquish her wrist. His hold was gentle yet possessive, pleading yet considerate, endearing and heartbreaking. When the pad of his thumb brushed over her pulse at her inner wrist, warmth blossomed within Kinsley.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Vex spun about, seeking sign of anyone, anything, but there was naught to be seen. Darkness stretched in every direction, endless and all-consuming.

No, not darkness. Nothingness.

Had he… Had he been here before, in this place that was not a place? Why was it so familiar?