A keening moan crawled out of the depths of his soul, reverberating all around him. He called her name. Screamed it over the winds. Begged her to look andseehim.
Nothing.
“I came.” He took her face between his hands, jolting at the frigidity of her flesh. “I’m here.”
She didn’t seem to register his presence.
His magic battered against his veins, and he pushed more of it out, trying to ease the wind. River’s storm was formidable. Powerful, like he’d always known her to be.
“River, please,” he said—begged. “Look at me, beautiful. You need to call your magic back and put a stop to this. People are going to get hurt if you don’t.”
She wouldn’t want that. His water fae was kind, a doctor by trade, and wouldn’t intentionally hurt a fly.
But right now, when Nikhail peered at River, he couldn’t see the woman he was falling for. All he saw was a fae losing themselves to their magic.
He didn’t have much time left.
A lesser man might’ve broken at the sight of the person they’d spent years pining after in such a state, but that wasn’t an option for Nikhail. River needed him to be strong for them both. He’d already failed her once, but this, he could do. He would prevent her from breaking, or he would die trying.
“I’ve got you.” Nikhail wouldn’t give up on River now, not when he hadn’t yet shown her how it felt to be wholly, unconditionally loved.
Gathering River into his arms like a bride, he held her to his chest and stood. She was far too light. Her head tipped over his arm and faced the sky, and water poured over her.
Nikhail’s chest ached as he carried River to the car. He adjusted his hold on her, maneuvering himself inside the vehicle to turn it off. Water was already seeping inside the car, rising above the pedals.
He carried River to the hood and laid her on top. She stared, unseeing, at the blackened sky.
“I’m sorry.” The lack of response urged him to move faster. “I’m going to help you.”
Nikhail slid the bag off his back. It landed with athunkon the car beside River. He pulled out a black bundle and untied the knot. The sodden fabric fell away to reveal two shining manacles that seemed to absorb the light.
Every part of the air fae rebelled at the thought of touching the dark cuffs, but he had no choice. Not if he wanted to save River.
Nikhail picked up the first cuff, and the rush of magic in his veins vanished. An awful emptiness swelled inside him, a dark void. The call of the wind disappeared, replaced by an eerie silence.
Nikhail shuddered and lifted River’s wrist.
“Please forgive me for doing this,” he said. “I wish there was another way.”
By the Black Sands, if there was, he would use it.
But her vacant stare and the torrential downpour confirmed what he already knew. This was the only path forward.
And so, even though his soul writhed against the wrongness of his actions, Nikhail clamped the manacle around River’s wrist. Her back arched off the car, and a mangled, pained scream tore from her throat.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he said brokenly as he reached for the second cuff. He wished he were anywhere else. “So gods-damned sorry.”
The matching bracelet went around her other wrist with ease, and she shrieked. The sound of River’s pain was an arrow to Nikhail’s heart, worse than anything he’d ever heard.
The water slowed, but it didn’t stop.
They needed more.
Abandoning his bag, Nikhail scooped up River once more and hugged her to his chest. He wished she would moan, that she would thrash and shout and meet his gaze. He wished that she would do anything at all, but now that her original cries had faded, she was silent, and that was even worse.
Nikhail turned and ran to Therian, whispering in River’s ear the whole time. Telling her all the things they would do when she woke, urging her to settle the storm.
The dragon’s nostrils flared when he saw Nikhail.