Threads of Fate

Chapter 55 ~ The Cruelty of Life

    Talarion's breaths came faster and faster, his heart drumming against that tether within his chest as he shook Kaius's limp form. But his mate didn't respond, and where their bond had once been warm and humming with life, it was now cold and empty. Talarion shook his head and gripped either side of Kaius's face, magic shining at his fingertips as he tried desperately to heal whatever had been broken.

    "Kai!" He cried again, tears already spilling down his cheeks. "Kaius! Please!"

    The cold was penetrating. Lifeless. Seeping into every part of him and smothering him with its emptiness. Talarion screamed once more, but there were no words this time. Only drowning waves of despair, disbelief, and agony.

    They poured from his lips as tears burned against his skin, each one taunting him with his failure. Sobs choked his screams as he stared at his hands, willing his magic to work. But it was to no avail. The bond remained frigid, and Kaius remained limp.

    "No, you can't leave me!" Talarion shook Kaius harder. The male's eyes were closed, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned. He had been smiling. Smiling because he'd seen him. How could he leave him now!

    "Please! Kaius, please! You can't leave me." He dug his nails against his own sternum as he doubled over his mate, begging warmth to fill the bond once more. Begging Kaius to wake up. Pleading with gods to return him.

    "Come back," he wept, barely able to understand himself amidst his sobs. "Please don't leave me. Come back, my Love. M'cor anam."

    Pain squeezed his heart until it shattered, and there was no relief. It was deafening. Overwhelming. As though someone had ripped something from the very core of his being. As if his heart, his very soul, had been torn out, leaving him nothing but an empty shell. He smoothed his hand across Kaius's cheek, then buried his fingers in that unruly hair he had always adored.

    "Please," he begged again, breathless this time. But Kaius did not stir. "Gods, please! Give him back! Let him come back!"

    Talarion tipped his head back with a broken wail which did nothing to ease the pain within him. He gathered his mate in his arms and buried his face in his neck, shaking with the force of his sobs as he begged the male to return his embrace. Kaius remained still, and Talarion screamed anew as the cruel reality closed in around him.

•༻☽☾༺•

    Tissaia flew down the corridor, dread piling into her stomach like stones as frantic screams filled the air from up ahead. She could already see into the next chamber. Her brother was kneeling on the floor, an unmoving figure in his arms. Tears pricked her own vision but Tissaia kept running. Perhaps there was still a chance to heal him. To save him!

    But as she watched her brother's head fall back with another hoarse, keening wail, the sound more terrible than anything she'd ever heard before, she knew it was too late. She staggered into the chamber, scenting the blood that coated multiple areas of it.

    The body of their father's Mindseeker lay not far from an altar in the center of the room, and close to where Kaius had fallen, there was an ancient black book drenched in blood. She glanced at Talarion as he heaved another sob and grief crushed her heart.

    Her brother shuddered violently, his face pressed into Kaius's neck, and he was still running a silver-etched hand down the male's body as though if he could just heal him enough, he could undo what had happened. She could barely make out his choked, muffled voice, still pleading with Kaius to come back to him. To not leave him here alone. That he couldn't live without him. Didn't want to live without him.