Page 11 of Dead Wrong

Bastien’s trance broke, his attention quickly drawn to me as he unleashed the full intensity of his stare. “Are you okay?”

“Not quite sure how to answer that,” I said, the pain forcing a bluntness I typically strayed from. Exhaling through my teeth, the throbbing pain dulled slightly. “Am I going to feel like this the entirety of my second life?”

Bastien chewed on his response for a moment, then reached out to me.

“Give me your hand.”

“That’s quite all right,” I said quickly, folding my arms across my chest. “I’m not a child. You can just answer my question.”

Bastien didn’t lower his offering, staring me down with fingers outstretched. I would be lying if I told myself that I didn’t want to take it. To feel Bastien’s skin against my own, even in this small way. A shock of electricity ran along my spine as I imagined those fingers wrapped around mine.

But I was certain things would never be what they once were. It wouldn’t mean anything to Bastien. I’m not even sure what it would have meant to me at that point. What I wouldn’t have given to recall the details of the schism between us. Maybe then, my body would calm down around Bastien. But what if I’d never stopped having feelings for him? Bastien could have been the one to call things off. Abandoning me, just like all the others that came before, like all the so-called friends who didn’t seem to care that I was in a grave.

None of them came for me. Only him.

A new heat flashed under my cheeks, radiating down into my chest. Anger, red-hot and building like a wildfire now, raging through my system.

Why was I allowed to die? I was Magi, for gods’ sake. Not only that, I was the son of the most powerful Adored in existence today. Even the most inept of healers should have been able to bring me back from the brink of death. It was so rare for one of our kind to die from anything other than old age. So, why was I left for dead?

Something wasn’t adding up.

I swatted away Bastien’s hand, causing him to recoil, the line of his jaw going taut once more.

“I was only trying to help.”

A cruel laugh bubbled up over my lips. “I’m certain you were.”

My mind—more organized than it had been since the moment I awakened on that frigid desk—raced, grasping any scrap of information I could about the time leading up to my death. It wasn’t that I couldn’t remember what happened. It was more that all of my memories were jumbled together. Like a box containing every bit of my life had been dumped out, piled high enough that all I could do was sort through them one by one and give my best guess at the chronology.

“You’re flushed.”

Bastien’s stupid, smooth voice disrupted my concentration.

“I’m fine,” I assured him, sliding as close to the door as was physically possible. I rested a cheek on the cool window. Water droplets clung to the exterior, the fine mist that had been falling from the ominous grey sky conjoining across the smooth surface until it formed bulbous spheres large enough to streak across the window. I could only hope the fragments of my life would behave the same. Once enough of them emulsify, they would streak through my consciousness, catching the rest and pooling together. Then maybe I’d be able to find some answers before Bastien put me back in the ground.

The ground.

A flash of recognition ensnared my mind, followed by blinding pain splitting my skull in half. I doubled over, sucking in air through my teeth?—

I was falling forward, head over heels, tumbling onto a mound of soft earth, twisted and dazed. I struggled to find purchase on the loamy ground beneath, but couldn’t seem to orient myself, couldn’t figure out which was up as more earth rained down from above. My body was on fire, my limbs twisted in unnatural angles as I tried to claw my way out, but darkness soon overwhelmed me, choking my senses as dirt filled my mouth, my eyes, my lungs. I thrashed in the pitch black, fighting to keep myself above the churning earth, but all too soon, I was pinned, blinded and sputtering under the crushing weight.

Then everything was quiet.

I was alone in the ground.

Surely, someone was coming to save me. They would be here soon, yes?

Gods, someone save me!

“Tobias.”

My eyes fluttered open, the details of the town car coming back into focus as I fought the urge to wretch. I could still feel the dirt in my throat, the grit of it between my teeth.

Bastien uttered a string of words that buzzed in my ears, pressing his palm firmly against my chest. Soothing heat radiated from the gem embedded in my skin, pulsing through my limbs and calming the agonizing ache.

“Your body can’t take this much stress,” Bastien said, his hand lingering on me even after the waves of heat had ceased. “Tell me what’s happening. Let me help you.”

“I remembered,” I choked out the words, hands still clawing at my throat. “The way I died.”

---