And then, his hand reaches up, his thumb brushing so softly against my cheek, brushing the tear away. With the single touch, my world comes back together. Under his touch, my body feels at peace.
He gives me the most subtle of smiles. It’s a small act, but it’s more than enough.
“Go,” he whispers. “We’ll figure it out.”
I don’t wait. I run. Needing to get away from here before my emotions get the best of me. Or I figure out how to fight the control the vampire king has on me and end up dead.
But the distance doesn’t stop me from hearing Nyx’s words whispered through the night sky, “Thank you, Amora. I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did. Thank you.”
Chapter 24
Lumi
“You’re okay,” Riven says as soon as I open my eyes. “You’ll be sore for a while, but you’ll live.”
“What happened?” I ask as I move to sit up in bed and then regret my decision. My entire body feels like I’ve just been run over by a truck. I’m sore everywhere. Everything hurts.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Nyx says.
I blink, shocked that he’s here, standing on the right side of my bed.
“What do you remember?” Ambrose asks from the left side, as he gently takes my hand in his.
“I remember Nyx going off with a vampire, Stellan?”
Nyx nods.
“I remember you ordering everyone to protect me,” I say to Ambrose.
I can feel Nyx’s glower at Ambrose, but Ambrose is unfazed. “Go on.”
“I remember having to pee. Emeric taking me to the bathroom on the main floor. One without any windows.”
“And then?” Ambrose asks.
I frown. Obviously, something terrible happened for me to end up back in my bed feeling sore all over, but whatever it was, I can’t seem to remember a single second of it.
“I have no idea. Waking up here is the next memory I have.”
Both men exchange stares, and I know they are communicating with each other mind to mind. I should try to listen in, but I’m too tired to even do that.
Riven is fussing over some bandage on my neck. “What happened?”
He looks up at Ambrose and Nyx as if for permission, but sees they are busy fighting with each other mind to mind, so he answers me. “Someone held a knife to your throat. Cut deep enough that you would have bled out in another minute if it weren’t for…”
“If it wasn’t for who? Who saved me?”
Riven rubs the back of his neck like he doesn’t want to answer me.
“Who?” I beg again, looking from him to Ambrose and Nyx.
“Amora saved you,” Nyx answers me.
I frown. “Amora? She hates me. Why would she rescue me?”
“Because she has a vested interest in your survival, the same as we all do, so that you break the curse for the vampires,” he answers.
I blink, trying to process that Amora saved me. “She must know who tried to kill me. What did she say? Can I talk to her? Thank her?”