Legacy Disowned - Book 2

Chapter 19 - Protect Family

White was turning red.

Sebastian clawed furiously at the slowly lowering barrier, the curse magic seared his skin but he didn't care, all that mattered was getting to Darling. With one last desperate effort, he threw himself over it, barely registering the pain that shot through his ankle as he stumbled the landing to the lower level.

Every last shred of his will and momentum was propelling him forward to take the place of Sonny Darling's fading form and catch her before she fell. He skidded to his knees as she collapsed into him. His blood seemed to freeze in his veins as he felt just how cold she already was. All her warmth was pooling around them, crimson staining her white blouse and seeping into his own clothes. He cradled her in his arms, his eyes falling upon her face for the first time and the world ended.

Gone was the rosy blush that seemed to permanently colour Darling's cheeks, her skin pale and drawn. There was no ghost of a smirk on her white lips and those big hazel eyes that had always been so alive and full of expression were now staring blankly through half lidded eyes— dull and empty.

Sebastian brought a trembling hand to her jaw, pressing his fingers against her pulse point, and a strangled cry tore itself from his chest. As he traced the line of her face he flinched as his bloody palm marred the beauty he knew so well. Blood on his hands. Her blood was on his hands.

The edges of his vision began to blur and his grip on her tightened. This couldn't be real, it just couldn't be. Sebastian held on as if, somehow, clutching Darling tight enough could stop her from crossing the threshold of that archway on a pond with no ripples.

Don't go!

"Sebastian!"

Anne's stinging slap across his face jerked him from the spiralling nightmare, bringing him back to reality. Both she and Ominis were shouting at him, their bodies trembling with urgency. "Give Ominis some room! Now!"

Sebastian blinked as Ominis pried Darling away from him just enough to slide his hands to her chest, tears streaming from his sightless eyes. Magic pulsed from his palms, not unlike the magic he used to see and Darling's body convulsed with the surge of energy.

"Don't go," Ominis choked out the plea between sobs as he repeated the action again, and again, and again.

Sebastian watched with bated breath, not quite daring himself to hope until finally, Darling drew in a sharp stuttered breath, her dull eyes flickering for a moment before sliding shut and her face, though still very pale, softened into something more akin to sleeping. Sebastian stared in awe, and another cry broke loose from him as he saw a strand of hair that had fallen across her face begin to flutter with her almost imperceptible breath. Darling was alive... dying, but not dead yet.

"I can keep her heart beating," Ominis gasped frantically, sweat beading on his brow as he continued to work his magic. "But she's already lost so much blood."

"I'm working on it," Anne said, her nimble fingers fumbling through Sebastian's satchel to extract a handful of vials. She tore the cork from a wiggenweld with her teeth and tipped it into Darling's open mouth, massaging her throat to make her swallow. The wounds on Darling's shoulder, ribs, and left arm continued to bleed profusely, even as some of her lesser injuries sealed themselves shut. Anne wasted no time pouring a red blood replenishing potion between Darling's pale lips. She was already retrieving another when her eyes briefly met Sebastians. "This will keep replenishing what she's lost, but I need you to close her deeper wounds!"

"I— I don't know the spell..." Sebastian's voice sounded hollow to his own ears. It seemed absurd now that he'd never learned it. How many medical journals had he read in the last year, only to skip past all the sections on physical injuries, dismissing them as irrelevant to his singular, desperate goal?