Page 130 of Ashes and Lilies
Damen intercepted me at the hearth.
“Hold on,” he said, grabbing my outstretched hand. “What are you—”
“My pin,” I gasped, my voice scratchy. I twisted my hands, trying to escape. I couldn’t mess this up too. “Let me go.”
“Darling, please stop.” Julian moved beside us and touched my face. He had to have done something because a second later, my panic fell away. “Just relax. We’ll take care of everything.”
I slumped into Damen’s hold. This was nice. Why was I upset?
The intervention lasted only a second. The room still smelled of earth and blood, and the memories refused to release their hold.
I had to get to it. I had to make sure that Titus would always have a piece of his mother with him. A sick sweat had begun to break out over my skin, and I trembled.
“No!” I protested, my body trembling.
“Titus!” Miles snapped in the background. “Get over here!”
Almost immediately, he’d abandoned his feast and was beside me—naked, of course, but my mind was too full to care.
Titus picked me up and held me against his chest. His firm touch soothed the raw edges of my panic. He might hate me soon, but he wasn’t going to hurt me. Besides, there was no reason to fight. There was no way I could escape him.
The sick feeling in my stomach receded. Exhaustion took over, cloaking the panic. My head fell against him as my consciousness drifted.
Julian continued issuing instructions. “We’re going to the hospital. Titus, keep her as still as possible. She’s been moving too much, and we need to stop the bleeding. Damen, stay here. You need to watch Finn. When our backup arrives, you can—”
“Finn is fine. I’m going with you.” Damen’s tone allowed no argument. “There’s no way I’m staying behind.”
Julian glanced at Miles, who stood near my feet.
“I’ll have Jin purify the area once the cleanup is done,” Miles said as he crossed his arms. “But I’m going, too.”
“Oh, all right.” Julian threw his hands in the air. “But we need to go.”
The world tilted with Titus’s every step, and even though he was trying to be careful, the jostling made the pain I’d been trying to ignore grow worse. By the time we’d reached the bottom of a steep staircase, it was a relief to fall into nothingness.
25
I woke up in a bright,white room. The intensity hurt my eyes, so I slammed them shut again almost immediately.
Even that movement radiated pain, an echo of agony that seemed to have no starting point. However, what was more prevalent was my heart-pounding terror.
In my experience, such a sterile atmosphere could only be one place.
“Are you okay?” Titus’s voice broke through my thoughts. There was a rustling, and the orange glow dimmed to a more bearable level. I opened my eyes in time to witness Titus returning from closing the blinds halfway and sitting in a cushioned chair at my side.
“Is that better?” he asked, grasping my hand. A dark layer of stubble covered his strong jaw, and he had tired lines across his face. His silk shirt was half-buttoned, wrinkled, and untucked. But when his green eyes met mine, I forgot my guilt over his appearance.
I was so thankful. Titus was here. Iwasn’t alone.
“A little,” I croaked out.
My throat ached from both injury and thirst, and it felt as though I’d been involved in a beatdown of epic proportions.
What had happened now? Perhaps I’d displeased someone.
Then everything came rushing back.
I jerked up, and the monitors beeped as I began to rip out the tubes. The sounds stopped, and so did I as Titus sat on the bed and held me.
