Valentine's Arrow

14: Metanoia

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SEBASTIAN

"I'm really sorry, but there is no way-"

"Find one," Sebastian growled. "Because if you do not give her back her life, I will take yours."

The blue-skinned warlock turned to the pale young woman lying on the bed, almost entirely motionless. Only her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. The warlock turned back to Sebastian. "I wish I could, but... there is nothing I can do. She is going to die, and no threats of yours on my life can change that."

But Sebastian wasn't listening. He was standing with his fists clenched, face expressionless, staring at Rebecca. The view out the bedroom window was in dire contrast to how he felt - a sunny beach, the water as blue as cornflowers. But Rebecca was dying. The whole world should have been black and cold; nothing could be beautiful. She was almost perfectly still now - there was not even the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest.

Sebastian took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do now; in fact, it was something he had been planning to do ever since he had met her, ever since she had looked at him with eyes that shone almost silver in the sunlight, eyes full of admiration.

"Get ready," he said to the warlock. "There is a way to save her."

The warlock looked wary. "There really isn't. Unless she has a parabatai-"

"She doesn't. But there are other ways." Sebastian slipped off his shirt, dropped it to the floor, and pressed his stele to his skin.

The warlock's eyes widened. "If you do that, you will be condemning her to a life of constant pain and misery-"

"I don't care!" Sebastian snarled. "Now, do as I say, or I will have your head and display it as a trophy."

The warlock said no more, but simply readied herself as Sebastian started tracing a rune across his skin.

It had been seven days since Sebastian had rescued Rebecca and still, she lay like dead under his touch. It was only her shallow, shaky breaths that told him she was still alive. Her skin was cold, her lips tinged with blue, her hair spread out around her head like a halo.

The blue-skinned warlock by her bedside turned to face Sebastian. "No improvement," she reported in a low voice.

Sebastian nodded mutely. He had hardly expected to hear anything different, and yet, each time, that bubble of hope in his chest expanded only to be burst again. "You may go," he said. The warlock left without any hassle.

Sebastian waited until she had left, and then slowly walked over to Rebecca's side and touched her cheek. She was pale, almost as pale as Sebastian himself. Her runes were in blinding contrast to her skin. Her chest still rose and fell with short bursts of breath, almost in a hypnotizing rhythm, and yet, Sebastian felt as if she was already gone. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. Please come back. Please come back to me."

It was nearly midnight when Sebastian returned to the apartment, his clothes soaked through with blood. His boots left behind bright red footprints as he walked straight through to the bedroom and discarded his soiled clothes in favor of clean ones.

The next thing he did was go straight to the guest bedroom to gaze at the young woman sleeping on the bed. The curtains were drawn apart, allowing moonlight to wash the room in a pale, ghostly light. He was about to turn away, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest, when a sound made him freeze.

It had sounded like someone taking in a breath. Not daring to get his hopes up, Sebastian turned his head slowly to look at Rebecca. Even from across the room, he could see that her eyes were now open, the moonlight making them look black. For a moment, she simply lay there, and then she slowly sat up, her face twisting in pain.