But I wasn’t apologizing. “Why wouldn’t you let Collin in? I need to know. Now. Before anything else happens.” I moved in front of him protectively.
All eyes in the room shifted to Jenna Marie. She sighed, tilting her head to the side. “I obviously let him in, Ivy. And kept the other angels away from him. We just wanted to keep him safe. There are Martis here that would kill you if I wasn’t sitting with you every moment. There are even more that remember Collin and what he’s done. It was an unnecessary risk. Collin agreed. It wasn’t like I banished him.”
Collin’s hand rested on my shoulder, “It’s all right, Ivy. Jenna Marie had your best interests at heart... and mine.”
Eric turned to the angel, “So you lifted the knife off of me?” His arms folded over his chest. I’m not sure if he was annoyed or impressed.
She nodded, still holding it. “You have a serious problem. The stone is lodged in the hilt of this dagger. It won’t come out. If it did, they would have given it to you to use already, Ivy. But it’s stuck. Eric can’t figure out why or how to dislodge it.” She paused, licking her perfect pink lips. Her gaze met mine. Vulnerability was strewn across her face, “I say we take it to the other angel who used it.”
I laughed, “Of course you’d say that.” I reached out for the dagger, gripping part of the hilt and expecting Jenna Marie to release it, but her grip remained on the weapon.
Her eyes met mine, uncertain as to whether or not she should release it. The only thing she was asking for was to return to her love. I considered her request, not releasing the blade. Eric spoke next to me, “It’s not a bad idea. And it’s not stuck. There’s something holding it in place, and unless we can get it out—you can’t use it. Plus, the place is a tomb. Kreturus can’t find us down there.” He paused for a moment, and repeated himself, “It’s not a bad idea.”
Why was I resisting? Why didn’t I want to go to the Lorren? If Eric could tolerate returning to that horrible place, I should be able to as well. But I couldn’t. Something inside of me crept up my throat and choked me when Jenna Marie suggested it. I didn’t want to go into the Underworld. Every time I went down there, I risked never coming out. And as for Collin and Jenna Marie, they’d never been in the Lorren. It may tempt them, or kill them before I find Lorren. Even then, I didn’t know if he could turn it off. I didn’t think the Lorren worked that way.
Speaking to Jenna Marie, I asked, “You know what the Lorren does to people who wander in there, don’t you? Are you really willing to risk that?” She nodded.
As I turned to ask Collin, he spoke, “There’s no need to ask me.” He smiled at me. The joy that swam through me filled every part of my body. That’s what Jenna Marie was asking for. The chance to be reunited with her long lost love. I couldn’t deny her of that.
Voices carried on the wind outside of the tent. More people were coming. Possibly angels. Possibly Martis. I didn’t want to wait any longer. If it was a risk they were willing to take...
“Let’s go,” I said. I wrapped my arms around Collin, as Eric pulled Jenna Marie closer. “Closer is better Jenna Marie, otherwise it hurts more for both of you. Eric, do you have enough power to do this?”
He nodded, “For now.” Grinning at Jenna Marie, he added, “It burns like Hell. Get ready little angel. You’re about to enter the forbidden zone. Crossing borders has devastating effects.”
Her voice warbled, “I don’t care. I’ll endure whatever pain, pay any price. If I incinerate, if I don’t make it, tell him,” she paused and reconsidered who should take her final words to Lorren. She looked over at me, “Tell him I love him.”
Something twisted my gut. “Tell him yourself,” I smiled at her. My eyes cut to Eric. He wouldn’t let her burn up. I trusted him fully. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Collin and I gasped as we crashed onto the golden floor. He’d never been in here before, so I held onto his hand and wouldn’t let him wander away. He was admiring the golden flowers and jewels beneath our feet when Eric and Jenna Marie crashed into the ground next to us.
With a gasp, Eric yelled, “Something’s wrong! She’s not moving!” There was panic in his voice. Eric cradled her head between his hands, and lowered his ear to her chest. “She’s barely breathing.” We were in the place where Lorren usually sat. The table he’d healed me on was behind us, and empty. Lorren wasn’t here. Where was he? It’s not like he could leave.
Kneeling next to Eric, I glanced at Jenna Marie. Her perfectly pink lips were turning blue. The rose blush that was usually on her cheeks was gone. She had a sickly pallor that seemed to worsen as I looked at her. “Quickly,” I said to Eric, “move her to the table.” Eric did as I asked, abandoning his usual snide retort. When he laid her down on the golden slab, her hair fell away from her face. As Eric slid his arm out from under her neck, a dark trail appeared on his skin. I stared at it. His eyes met mine. We both realized what happened at the same time.
Jenna Marie had a wound that was inflicted by the Dreanok. Their talons were poisonous. I’d assumed she removed all of their venom, but the stain on Eric’s arm indicated otherwise. The effonation put too much stress on her body. It caused the wound to worsen. She was being poisoned, the same way I was. Eric tore off her knitted cap by its flower and threw it aside. I took a hair band from my wrist and moved her hair away from her cheek and neck. Rolling Jenna Marie onto her side, I nearly wretched when I saw the extent of the Dreanok’s damage. The long line of sliced flesh reached from her cheek back to her ear, and continued around to the back of her head. The Dreanok’s talon sliced off the lower half of her ear, leaving a stump that had putrefied.
I blurted out, “Why didn’t she heal this?”
“She can’t,” Eric replied. “There are certain things that can’t be healed. The scars will remain, no matter what we do, but we have to draw out the poison before she dies.”
His sarcastic voice pelted into my back like a brick. Lorren said, “Then let her die.” The bitterness in his voice made me turn slowly. How would he react? I brought him his lost love, and now she was marred and half dead. Lorren’s black hair hung in his face. His shoulders had that downward slant they always had. The muscles in his arms were tense as he swung his head around the room, asking, “What are you doing, Ivy? You never do what I tell you to! You never...”
Lorren was preparing for a full out berating, but before he could get going, I moved away from the golden slab, revealing a mass of blonde hair and smooth porcelain skin. He stopped speaking. Lorren’s jaw hung open as his voice died in his throat. Lorren rushed at the table, not believing what he saw. His hands gripped her face, turning her lifeless body toward him. The expression in his dark eyes rapidly shifted as he recognized her.
A voice as soft as a caress slid from his lips, “Jenna. My God.” His fingers traced the line along her cheek and back around to her ear. He stared at her and shivered, shaking his head. “I can’t heal this. I can’t...” he voice drifted off as panic choked him.
Grabbing his shoulders, I turned Lorren away from her. When he met my gaze he snapped back to himself and shook free of my grip. “Why can’t you heal her?” I asked. “You drew poison out of me—why is this different?”
He stared over my shoulder, and then back down at me. Lorren’s thin body was so much taller than my own. “It’s Dreanok venom. She’s an angel. I can’t separate the poison from her body. Once they blend, they don’t part.” Lorren’s face turned white, like someone flipped a switch as he spoke. He pushed past me and cradled her hand in his. “I thought I’d never see you again,” he fell on his knees, placing his elbows on the golden slab and burying his face in the hand that held hers. The despair was so thick that I couldn’t breathe. No one moved. No one spoke. My gaze remained on her ever paling face as her breath slowed and became shallow.
I couldn’t watch anymore. I pressed my eyes closed and as my lids lowered, the world went black. I could see Locoicia’s handwriting sprawled in golden letters in my mind. The spell would take all of my power. Possibly more than I could give. The pain price would drain me completely. My eyes flicked opened. I stared at her prone body wondering if it would work. My gaze shifted to Lorren. The question was, would he let me?
Collin saw my eyes narrow as I thought. He could tell I was thinking of doing something, and that I needed him to help me. Eric stared at Jenna Marie, no doubt infatuated by her pain. He was so f**ked up. Thinking of the spell, I knew that I needed a golden spike. Turning, I twisted one of the flowers off the wall. The stem snapped in my hand. Collin was the only one watching me. I moved toward Jenna Marie like I was going to lay the flower on her chest. With a jerk of my head toward Lorren, Collin moved to stand behind him.
I flicked my eyebrows three times counting, starting the spell. Three words. One rose. I uttered the first word, smoothing the shirt across her chest, making sure there was nothing in my way. Lorren seemed to notice I was there and lifted his head. Tears stained his cheeks. His wet lashes clung together in clumps. He was going to kill me. I hoped to God that Collin understood what I wanted him to do. I uttered the second word. Recognition flashed in his eyes. Lorren heard the spell. The banishing word.
His eyes widened, and he asked, “What are you...?” but he never finished his question. I uttered the third word, and raised the rose over my head. Slamming the stem down quickly, it shook her body as the golden rose became rigid and cut through bone, plunging into her heart. Jenna Marie’s body jerked as the rose pierced her chest. A raw scream erupted from her lips. At the same time, Lorren launched himself at me with his arms outstretched, ready to snap my neck. The pain in his eyes was too great to fathom. I jerked back just as Collin’s arms wrapped around Lorren from behind, holding him back.
The first pain price ripped through me. Gritting my teeth, I snapped at Eric, “Help him! Don’t let Lorren remove the rose. It has to stay there until the spell is done!” I screamed as the second pain price slammed into me. Collin’s eyes were wide, as he maintained his iron grip around the tall and lanky Lorren. But every moment Collin held him back, Lorren became more enraged. Lorren no longer looked at his love. Instead, he glared at me with death in his eyes. Eric watched, utterly unable to move. The pain surrounding him—my pain price and Jenna Marie’s dying body—trapped him. Eric pressed his hands to his head, trying to ignore it. Trying to do as I asked.
As the third pain price slammed into me, Jenna Marie’s body arched on the table. She let out a wail of agony and when she was done, her body stopped moving. Her chest was covered in red as the blood from the rose buried in her heart soaked through her shirt. Jenna Marie was deathly still.
Lorren’s hands reached for me as I fell to the floor, unable to support my own weight. I tried to numb myself, but I couldn’t. The pain price tore through me, ripping, breaking, bleeding. It felt like acid was on fire in a streak across my chest. Pressing my fingers to my breast I looked down and saw the line—the sapphire serum—spider across my chest in tiny veins of deep blue. My body slowly curled into a ball as the pain price tried to take more than I had to offer.