Page 35 of A Lady Most Hexing
And then the ruins of Bletsoe began to shake and Edwina realized her mistake.
This wasn’t a psychic world within the ring.
It was an echo of the real world. One forged by a desperate girl trying to cling to the life that had been wrenched from her.
One bound to the spirit itself.
“Edie!”
She lay still and quiet, her skin so pale that for a second Sterling thought she was almost?—
No. There was her heartbeat.
“Edie,” he chided, rubbing heat into her hands. Gasping with fear. “Edie, wake up. Come on. Don’t do this to me.”
Don’t you dare do this to me.
But there was some sort of pall hanging over her.
Something… evil.
The ring.
He had to get it off her. But as he tore at it, it resisted him.
“Edie.” He bent down, resting his forehead against hers. “Edwina Sheffield. You wake up right this moment.”
He’d give anything for her to set her hands on her hips and scowl at him right now.
Her lips were like ice, her breath coming weakly.
A shiver ran through her and there was a cut on her cheek, as if something had struck her a blow.
“Edie, come back,” he whispered. “Come back to me. Please.” His breath caught. “I love you. I’m madly in love with you, Edwina Sheffield, and I’ve never dared bloody say it. Please give me a chance to say it.”
He kissed her.
Pouring some of his sorcerous strength through the bond between them. Forcing heat and life and love through the bond.
And Edie tugged back.
Her lips softened, and then she was groaning beneath him, pressing at his chest as if to push him away.
“Edie?”
Her eyes popped open. “Sterling?” she rasped.
Thank all the gods. He hauled her into his arms as she choked and coughed, sounding for all the world as if she’d been underwater for an age.
I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you….
“That’s alright, Sterling.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “I’m right here. You won’t have to find out.”
And he blinked in surprise, because she’d somehow managed to pluck his thoughts from his mind.
Chapter
Ten
