Page 155 of Savage Is My Kingdom

“How?”

“I pushed my magic toward the damage and then…” I shrugged. “The bleeding stopped. Please, we don’t have much time.” Raz was slipping away, I could feel it. His body grew heavier and heavier in my lap, that phantom touch on the back of my neck colder.

As if someone was urging me to hurry.

“Right here.” She held her hand over Raz’s bruised side. “Concentrate your power here…I shall focus my healing magic there as well. Perhaps…we shall be fortunate.”

I didn’t allow myself to doubt.

Didn’t allow myself to weigh the odds, or to question what might happen if I filled Raz up with this awful magic. If I was condemning him to some terrible fate, even worse than the collar.

“I love you so, so much.” I murmured, sending a tendril of stardust spiraling into this male who owned my heart, the gentlest shimmer of magic carried by love and hope and wonder, praying that this might somehow save him.

Raz groaned when his broken ribs bent back into place, his veins and arteries healed, blood began pumping again, his lungs filled with air. I sensed the changes as if they were inside of me—like I’d planted myself deep inside of him—become a part of him.

“By the gods, it’s working.” The healer muttered, her body trembling.

“That’s it, Anaria.” Tavion murmured, stroking his hand down my back. “Keep going, his color’s better, so is his breathing.”

I didn’t know which was more baffling, the fact I was healing Raz with magic, or that Tavion was being nice to me.

But when Raz’s eyes half-opened, hazy with pain and confusion, hope surged through me. “Hang on Raz, just a little longer.”

I wanted an eternity with this male.

We both knew slaves weren’t meant for happiness and laughter and futures.

But gods, I’d wanted everything.

And I’d wanted it with Raz.

60

RAZIEL

Somewhere far away, someone pressed their hands against my skin, sending waves of gentle warmth through me, driving away this consuming pain. A rough, guttural groan escaped through my clenched teeth as I crept closer to consciousness.

I smelled Anaria, knew her lap was my pillow, those were her hands on me, her salty tears splashing down on my face.

I didn’t understand how I was still alive.

I should have been fucked.

Knew I was dead the second I’d hit those trees, felt everything inside me burst. And then, when I’d managed to knock Solok away, just before he snapped Zor’s neck, something else had broken. Broken so completely, my body shut down in protest, and no amount ofget up you worthless fuckerhad made a difference.

I wanted to wrap my hands around Solok’s throat and tear off his head. I wanted to wrap myself around Anaria and keep her safe.

I just wanted to say goodbye.

Then everything went black.

“Please. I can’t lose him…I love you so, so much…hang on Raz, just a little longer…use my magic.”

The tears in Anaria’s sweet voice yanked me out of unconsciousness and plunged me into the fiery pits of the Great Beyond. This wasn’t pain. This was being flayed from the inside out, turning my vision black.

But then the pain was driven back by the most euphoric feeling ever.

Something like love, but all around me.Inside me, wrapping me up in warmth and safety and belonging. All the soft, tender feelings I’d never allowed myself to embrace.

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