Page 85 of Knight’s Salvation

The grief that tore through her in that moment was an agony she never knew existed, a weight that was so crushing she could barely breathe, knives so sharp she felt sliced to shreds, and she cried out from the enormity of it.

This couldn’t be happening.

They’d just found each other.

Zenon was meant for her and she for him. How would she live without him? How would she go on without her beautiful, broken warrior by her side? Resting her head on his chest, she threaded her fingers with his and laid the other on his stomach. The beats against her cheek slowed further and she whimpered. No, please no.

She didn’t hear anything else; her sole focus was on that slowing beat.

Then it stopped.

“No. No, no, no.” She held his face in her hands. “Zenon. Please come back to me. Don’t go.” She shook his shoulders. Her sobs made it hard to draw breath and she gasped for air.

Someone pulled her roughly into their arms and held her. “He’s gone, Mia. He’s gone.”

She fought until they let her go, and she crawled onto the couch with his still body, wrapping herself around him protectively. No one was taking him, not yet. Not yet.

“Fuck, this is killing me. What do we do?” It was Lazarus, and she could hear the grief in his voice.

“Leave her with him,” Chaos choked out.

The pain in her chest throbbed. Pain over losing the male she loved, and anger over what he had suffered. It filled her until it became unbearable, heating her from the inside out. Unable to contain it, she released it, all of it. All the pent-up rage and grief swirling inside her. There was a sound of scrambling feet and cursing. Furniture being knocked over. But she couldn’t stop, was too far gone.

Scalding wind whipped around her, lifting her hair and tugging at her clothes. Still she didn’t try to rein it in. She lost herself to it. Let the energy fly from the tips of her fingers, hoping she’d burn into nothingness. Disappear.

She didn’t want to be here, not without Zenon.

Someone shouted her name.

She squeezed her eyes closed and poured everything out of her until there was nothing left, until she had drained every last bit of her power. She sagged against Zenon’s still form.

“Mia, Christ. Are you all right?” Rocco said from close by.

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I’m still here.”

“Zenon wouldn’t want this…”

Thump.

Rocco’s words drifted into the background.

Thump.

She moved higher and placed her fingers loosely over his cracked lips. Warmth rushed across her skin.

“Mia?” Lazarus said.

“He’s breathing,” she whispered, scrambling off him to give him space.

Rocco bent down and put his ear to Zenon’s chest. “Shit. She’s right.”

James came up beside them. “You were glowing.”

She tore her gaze away from Zenon. “What?”

“Lit up like the freakin’ fourth of July. That energy you give him, you just fired a whole hell of a lot into him. I think it…I think you healed him.”

Zenon wheezed in a deep breath, and she fell back to her knees beside him. “Zenon?”