Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,99
most important bond in her life is snapped and taken from her.” Astra smiled sweetly. “It’s enough to make even the lightest soul welcome in the shadows.”
Understanding dawned too late.
Niamh rushed at the fae, screaming her outrage, but the syringe had already been plunged into Kiyo’s heart.
And then Astra was gone.
Kiyo sprawled unconscious in the middle of the park as onlookers watched on in confusion and fear.
Niamh fell hard at Kiyo’s side and pulled up his shirt. Silvery veins had already begun to spread from his heart.
She tried not to panic.
Kiyo was immortal.
He already told her he couldn’t die.
Sensing humans crowding in, Niamh lifted his unconscious body into her arms, pretending to struggle.
“Do you need help?” a young Japanese woman asked in English.
Niamh shook her head, pushing past people to get Kiyo into the restaurant. She ignored the shouted protests from those around her and dragged him all the way into the restroom.
A wide-eyed woman let out a gasp of shock as Niamh hauled Kiyo into a stall.
His head lolled horribly on his neck as she shut the stall door behind them.
Holding him tight, Niamh thought of the hotel.
After a moment of disorienting darkness, she opened her eyes to find them in their hotel room.
Kiyo swayed in her arms and she lifted him with ease.
Lying him down on the bed, Niamh stepped back on shaking legs to study him.
He looked like he was merely sleeping.
“Kiyo,” she whispered. “Why did you come back?”
Creeping forward again, she lifted his shirt to take another look.
The silver veins had lengthened. The spot around his heart was inflamed.
He couldn’t die.
He was immortal.
Astra didn’t know that.
He couldn’t die.
Niamh studied the scar across his belly.
Silver could hurt him. It had left a permanent mark.
What the hell would the silver do to his insides?
25
Niamh had never conjured anything as far away as Kiyo’s cell phone. Her whole body shook with exertion as she concentrated.
Fifteen minutes later, her hair and clothes damp with sweat, the cell finally popped onto the bathroom counter in front of her. Weary to her bones, Niamh had no time to celebrate. Instead she dialed Bran’s number and relayed to him what had happened.
“Isn’t the moon still in phase?” Bran asked, his tone far too casual for Niamh’s liking.
“Yes,” she snapped. “What of it?”
“Werewolves’ healing abilities are accelerated when they’re in wolf form. As soon as he changes tonight, the transformation will dissolve the silver in his blood. It has to. All my research on Kiyo tells me there is nothing on this planet that can kill him.”
In the end, it was Bran’s calm certainty that reassured Niamh. She thanked him and hung up after he told her to keep him posted on Kiyo’s status.
Niamh strode out of the bathroom and almost swayed into the door frame. She’d overexerted herself. If she’d practiced her powers half as much as Astra had, she’d be able to do all the things she’d done in the last twenty-four hours without it affecting her.
A groan drew her out of her self-recrimination.
“Kiyo.” She hurried over to the bed just as he opened his eyes.
After a moment of disorientation, he let out a grunt of pain and clutched his chest. As he pulled at his shirt to have a look, Niamh explained, “It was Astra. She injected you with silver. Right into your heart. I can only assume this was her chosen method to draw out your death for as long as possible.”
A sheen of perspiration coated Kiyo’s skin. He looked haggard and pale as he turned his head to her.
“I’m sorry.” Her hands hovered over his body uncertainly. “I wasn’t fast enough to stop her. But Bran reckons when you change tonight, your wolf will heal you.”
His face strained with a sudden shock of pain, his eyes squeezing shut as he grimaced.
Powerlessness swamped her. “Kiyo.”
Kiyo shook his head. “Don’t,” he gasped. “Not your fault. Argh!” He clutched at his chest.
“What can I do?” she asked, frantic.
His eyes shot open. “Bran … right,” he hissed. “Fuck … change will heal …” He gasped for breath, the misery in his gaze undoing her.
Tears burned in her throat.
“Knock me out,” he groaned, flinching either with pain or broken pride. “Until tonight.”
Wet escaped her eyes as she pressed her fingertips to his carotid and sent a flare of magic inside to squeeze it.
His body went limp.
Before she could give in to the panic slithering from the pit of her stomach, Kiyo’s cell rang. Hurrying into the bathroom, she saw Bran’s name on the screen.