Page 87 of The Warlock's Kiss

Merrick quickly cleaned her palms and bound her wounds, gently settling her hands atop the bedding when he was done. Adalynn remained unmoving but for the steady rise and fall of her chest.

“She’s going to be okay, right?” Danny asked anxiously.

“She doesn’t have a choice but to be okay,” Merrick replied.

Chapter Seventeen

“When do you think she’ll wake up?” Danny asked. He was seated at the foot of the bed, just beyond Adalynn’s feet.

“I cannot guess,” Merrick replied.

Danny had slept sporadically over the last three days, usually on the bed beside his sister, unwilling to leave her when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. He’d only eaten because Merrick had forced him to, often protesting by pointing out that Merrick wasn’t taking time to sleep or eat, so he didn’t see why he should have to.

The boy looked exhausted. Though his skin was tanned, it had taken on a pale, almost sickly undertone, and he had deep bags beneath his eyes. Whenever Adalynn did wake up, she was likely to have a few things to say about Danny not taking care of himself while she was out—and some choice words for Merrick for not taking care of Danny well enough.

And those would be amongst the sweetest words Merrick had ever heard.

Merrick himself hadn’t slept or eaten since he’d bound their souls together. He couldn’t. Even though he sensed that everything within her was fine, she’d shown no signs of waking. Her mana song, still inexorably twined with his, had only strengthened, and he couldn’t detect even a hint of that darkness in her anymore. Merrick had tended to her at every moment—he’d bathed her, dressed her in more comfortable clothing, had trickled droplets of water into her mouth to ensure she’d hadsomethingto drink.

She was the same Adalynn as always, but she wasmorenow, too. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, but it didn’t alarm him. It might even have been comforting were it not for his worry; it would’ve been comforting if she’d already woken.

“When was the last time you ate, Daniel?” Merrick asked as he turned his attention back to Adalynn. Her face was so serene, so beautiful…but her peaceful expression now couldn’t compare to the brightness of her smile, which he missed more and more with each passing hour.

“I’m okay,” Danny said.

“When, boy?”

“Uh…yesterday, I think.”

“Go eat. Then you will take a shower and get some sleep.”

“I’mfine, Merrick. I don’t want to leave in case she wakes up.”

Merrick turned his head to glance at Danny. “If she wakes, I will alert you. But if she wakes while you are sitting there, looking—and smelling—more like one of those undead creatures beyond our walls than her younger brother, how do you think she will react?”

Danny slouched, his eyebrows falling low and his mouth turning down in a deep frown. “You promise you’ll call me?”

“I promise.”

The boy sighed heavily. He glanced at Adalynn for a moment before standing. “Fine.”

“If we don’t keep ourselves healthy for her, Daniel…what was the point of all this?”

“Okay, I get it.” Danny walked toward the door, stopped, turned his head, and narrowed his eyes on Merrick. “I mean it.Call me.”

“If you’re still here in three seconds, I’m going to throw you in your room and magically seal the door.”

“All right, all right!” Danny’s steps were heavy as he finally exited the room and walked down the hallway.

Merrick shifted his full attention to Adalynn. One of her arms lay outside the blankets that were draped over the rest of her body; he took that hand in his, lacing their fingers together. The bandages were gone—the cuts on her hands had vanished by the second day—allowing their palms to meet skin-to-skin. He gently stroked her cheek with the fingertips of his other hand.

“If this is even the barest hint of what things would be like were you gone, neither Daniel nor myself would last long, Adalynn,” he whispered. “Your brother needs you.Ineed you. I never realized how empty my life was before you came into it.”

He leaned forward and raised her hand to his lips, letting his soft kiss on her knuckles linger for a long while. “Come back to me, love.Please. As foolish as it may sound after so short a while…I don’t know how to live without you anymore. There’s nothing for me without you.”

Just like every other time he’d spoken to her over the last three days, Adalynn offered no response, made no indication that she’d heard him. But she was in there; he couldfeelit, could sense her consciousness.

“If you don’t wake up soon, Adalynn, IswearI will find some way to go in there after you and drag you back out.”

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