Page 123 of The Girl Who Fell Through Time
Selene cries, noisily, bawling into her hands. “Dorian saved me,” she weeps. “He rescued me and brought me back to life, and if he dies, if hedies—”
If he dies, Selene might as well die with him. She’ll wish she’d never been brought back to life. Her heart is his. How will it beat in a world without him in it?
Elizabeth gets up and comes around to pat her back. “He’s with us yet, dear girl. He hasn’t lost his fight, and neither have you. You’re a survivor.” She squeezes her shoulder. “Dorian will come back to you.”
Selene’s voice trembles in her throat. “I want to be the one savinghim.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You already have.”
Selene barely notices when Aunt Elizabeth leaves, though she murmurs something about resting in the next room. She will not go far.
Ariella wakes sometime later and returns to the sickroom, rubbing exhaustion from her eyes before immediately turning her attention to Dorian. “He needs to eat,” she says.
Selene doesn’t argue. She knows it’s true, although she doubts it will work. Rookwood brings up a tray of broth. Selene helps Ariella lift Dorian slightly, but he turns his head away from the spoon she offers. His throat works as though he might speak, but no words come.
Ariella sighs, setting the spoon back in the bowl. “Not even a little?”
Dorian doesn’t respond. His skin is too flushed, his breathing shallow and uneven.
Ariella tries to hand the spoon to Selene instead. “You should eat, at least.”
Selene hesitates before forcing down a few mouthfuls. The food is warm but tasteless. It sits heavy in her stomach. She sets the bowl aside, unable to continue.
A sound from Dorian draws her attention—a sharp, broken gasp. His body twitches violently, fingers flexing against the sheets. A moment later, his back arches, and he lets out a ragged, hoarse cry.
Selene’s heart leaps into her throat. “Dorian?”
His breathing comes in shallow, agonised pants. His hand flies to his chest, clutching as if something inside him is tearing apart. “It burns—” His voice is raw with pain. “It burns!”
Selene grabs his hand, squeezing tightly, trying to ground him. “I know,” she whispers, voice shaking. “I know. I’m here.”
Dorian’s body jerks again, and for the first time, real terror claws at Selene’s insides. She’s seen him hurt before, but never like this. Never so utterly lost to pain.
Ariella is already moving. “He needs more pain relief. I’ll get it.”
“Hurry,” Selene chokes out.
Ariella disappears out the door.
Selene turns back to Dorian, running a hand through his damp hair, whispering to him even though she doesn’t know if he hears her. “You’re not alone,” she murmurs. “You’re not alone, I promise.”
But gods, it’s awful. Watching this, feeling this helpless. If she could take the pain into herself, she would. She would suffer twice over if it meant sparing him from this agony.
This is my fault,Selene knows. She brought this on him by marrying him. Whatever happened to him in the original timeline, it wasn’t this. He didn’t suffer—
His grip on her tightens. His whole body is trembling. “Selene—”
“I’m here,” she says again.
It doesn’t seem to matter. He screams all the same.
Ariella arrives with more medicine, and he slips back into fitful sleep. Selene is half tempted to ask Ariella for a sleeping draught herself. She doesn’t want to watch.
She’s equally sure that she doesn’t want to go. Doesn’t want to risk being unable to rouse if he—
When Soren gets back. When Dorian wakes up.
Because he has to wake.He has to.
