Kelwyn was cold.
The blood-soaked bedding beneath him felt like it was made of ice and the breeze coming in through the open balcony door might as well have been from the arctic. He’d stopped feeling the cold when he’d died before, but apparently now that the final death was coming for him, it had returned. He wanted to shiver, but he lacked the energy even for that. Blood was still slowly oozing down the stake lodged in his chest, and with each drop the cold grew a little stronger, crept a little deeper within. Soon he would freeze entirely and that would be the end.
His hands, streaked with red, had long since fallen from the stake. He found it was hard to so much as blink now. His life was seeping away, drop by drop. The cold grew, and the world began to retreat. He could still feel h
