Ambrose looks at Lumi. “Do it,” she says.
I suck in a breath, hating this. I grip the railing of the deck. The sunlight is hitting down on the center of the circle they are in. There is no way for me to help her without being in incredible pain unless I shift. I’m faster in my vampire form, so I stay as I am.
Riven nods to the Moonlight pack, and once again, they start pushing their magic to Ambrose. The air shifts once again, but Lumi just stares at Ambrose with all the confidence in the world. She may not love him. She may hate him for some of the things he’s done, like controlling her wolf form. But in this moment, she trusts him.
Her gaze flickers over to me for a split second, and I curse again. Fuck, she’s doing this for me, not her. She thinks this is the way to save me.
So fucking selfless.
I consider ending this right now, but that won’t help anything. I wait, preparing myself to save her if I have to.
Riven blasts Ambrose with his magic, holding nothing back.
Please, please, please just let her survive this,I pray to the gods.
Ambrose hesitates.
She gives him the subtlest of nods, and then he blasts the magic out.
It hits their joined hands, throwing them apart and knocking them both to the ground.
“Lumi!” I run, not thinking about the pain as the sunlight streaks over me. In a second, I’m cradling her head.
I can sense her breathing. Her heartbeat. She’s alive.
“Ambrose?” she croaks out.
I connect with the asshole’s mind.
“Alive,” I answer her.
She moves to get up.
“Slowly, take your time,” I say, cradling her body as the sun tries to flay me alive.
Her eyes widen in horror, and then she looks behind me. “Get him into the shadows. Now!”
Before I can process, I feel Talonis and Brax yanking me back into the shadows. As soon as I cross over, the pain dampens, but the damage is done. My skin feels raw and painful. Without Riven helping to heal me, I’d be in a lot of pain for a while.
Riven sends me a scowl, and I’m not sure if he will have enough power left after today to help me. It doesn’t matter, though. I needed to make sure that Lumi was okay.
Ambrose crawls to Lumi’s side. They exchange words mind to mind, but I don’t have enough energy to find out what they are saying.
“It didn’t work,” Ambrose says.
“But of course, it didn’t. It was a long shot. Nothing is going to work unless we break the curse the way it was intended to be broken—through choosing a mate and selecting the witches’ curse to be broken,” I say.
Riven, ever the optimist, doesn’t seem deterred by his or my statement.
“Magic is a fickle thing. We should keep trying this strategy. There is still hope to be had,” Riven says.
“Not when it risks Lumi’s life,” Ambrose says.
Riven frowns sadly. “Every day the curse isn’t broken risks Lumi’s life. Risks Nyx’s life. Risks all of our lives.”
“There could be another way, one that doesn’t involve magic,” I say.
Everyone is looking at me in disbelief. Ambrose looks at me dubiously, but Lumi—she already knows what I’m about to say and hates me for it. She’s considered it an option too. A magical loophole.