“Come on!” She hit his chest and air slipped from his throat in a familiar hum. Bolstered by these signs of vitality, she leaned down one more time and listened for a heartbeat.
She listened for a long time.
“Keriya?”
“Shh!” She hissed at Max, who had come to join her.
“Keriya, he’s gone.”
“You’re wrong,” she snarled, lifting Thorion’s head and staring into his eyes. If he could see her, he would keep fighting. He would get up.
“Thorion, please,” she whispered. “I never thought too much about my future, but when I did . . . you were always in it.”
She fumbled in her cloak and withdrew the packet of laesabrel. She undid the drawstrings with difficulty, for her hands were shaking badly, and pulled his jaws apart to slip the last of the buds between his fangs. No response from Thorion.
