Tenn shook his head. Jarrett was dying in front of him. He didn’t have time for this. He should be healing Jarrett, not listening to this madwoman rant.
“She used special runes to bestow our abilities to use magic. Runes that let us keep our minds and our powers. But she took those secrets to her grave. We have tried. Oh, we have tried. No one has been able to replicate her runes. The words were never right. We needed someone who could speak the language the Dark Lady had tapped into. Someone who could hear and read the runes.”
That made him look at her. His heart thudded. Did she truly think he’d...
“So this is your dilemma,” she said. She stood. “Jarrett is well beyond healing, as I’m sure you’ve already discovered. He will die very soon unless you do something to change it. The stone in your hand will push your lover over the edge and turn him into a kraven. He will lose his mind and every inch of beauty in that well-defined body. It would be a terrible waste. The runes inscribed on that stone are too weak to do anything else. But if you are truly able to read the Dark Lady’s language, if you can communicate with the gods, then you will be able to change that. You could turn him into one such as I—immortal, powerful, beautiful. And entirely in control of his Sphere’s hunger. You could grant him that gift. You could have your future again.”
She leaned down and whispered in his ear.
“Or he will die within the hour. The choice is yours.”
Then she left, locking the door behind her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
TENN HAD MENTALLY prepared himself for many things. He’d prepared to blow the house down, to face off against Leanna. He’d prepared to die in here, so long as Jarrett got out safe.
Nothing could have prepared him for this.
Leanna’s locking the door behind her brought it all crashing down. The scene had been too horrible to take in. It felt like some awful dream. But now reality was dawning.
He dropped the stone and pressed closer to Jarrett. He placed his hands on Jarrett’s cooling face, bit back the tears that were forcing themselves to the surface. He had to save him. He had to heal him. There had to be a way. There had to.
“I’ve come too far,” he heard himself say. “I can’t lose you. Not now. Not again.” The last word came out as a sob.
He opened to Earth and gently, gently, pressed the power to Jarrett’s skin. Maybe if he took it in doses...
Again, the power wrenched from his fingertips. It was like catapulting into a whirlpool. He let go of the Sphere as Jarrett’s starving center tried to suck him dry. Tenn closed his eyes and knew Leanna hadn’t been lying. Jarrett was going to die; no amount of Tenn’s power could replenish what had been stolen from him. And there was nothing Tenn could do about it.
Almost against his wishes, he looked to the stone that had rolled to Jarrett’s hip.
Or is there?
He knew how the stone worked; it was the same as the markings on the jar they’d found, only attuned to Earth. Just a little bit of magic and the runes would activate, would start drawing out Jarrett’s magic, just like Cassandra had demonstrated. The memory made his head swim. It felt like years had passed.
If Leanna was telling the truth, maybe he could do it. Maybe he could alter the runes and turn Jarrett into...into what? A Kin? Some sort of bastardized kraven? Rumor was not even the Dark Lady could create an Earth Howl that kept its sanity—the Kin were all bloodlings or higher. Earth was a hungry, mindless Sphere.
But what if he managed it?
He looked at Jarrett. He traced the curve of Jarrett’s jaw with his fingers, delicately, not wanting to hurt the bruises that marred his gaunt face. The scars seemed to stick out even more now, made him look more battle-hardened. He looked older. Too old.
Tenn tried to imagine his world anew. A different future, where Jarrett was still alive but not quite human. He looked just like before, acted just like before, only now, every night, they didn’t sit down to dinner, didn’t drink wine before the fire while reading books. Jarrett would be out hunting. And Tenn would have to ignore the blood on his lover’s clothes, would have to train himself never to ask what or whom Jarrett had had for supper.
It would be possible, that future. He could feed off necromancers or maybe even cattle or kravens or...anything. They could still be together. It wouldn’t be any different from now, right? They still had to kill to survive. Jarrett would be in control of his urges. He’d be like the Kin. Like Tomás. He’d still be the man Tenn cared for. Only different.
There were tears in his eyes. They blurred Jarrett’s sharp features, but Tenn didn’t wipe them away. Only a few days ago, Tenn had thought Jarrett was dead. Gone. Seeing him here and now ripped that open, left Tenn bleeding in the gutter of memory. Tenn had hoped, in his rage to get here, that he could have his future again. He could have the home and the family, the reason to wake up in the morning.
Only now, he didn’t. The man he loved would die no matter what. But maybe, if he really was chosen or important, he could have a semblance of Jarrett back. He could save him. Part of him.
Tenn shook as he leaned in and kissed Jarrett on the lips. He closed his eyes, wove his fingers gently through Jarrett’s hair and prayed Jarrett could feel this. Jarrett needed to know he had fought for him. He had found him. He hadn’t given up. In the end, Jarrett needed to know that Tenn had tried everything he could to save him. Even this.
Against his wishes, Water opened and flooded between them.
In the space of a heartbeat, his reality shattered.
“You have to let me go,” Jarrett said.
The room was dark, so dark, but somehow Tenn could see Jarrett clearly, like he carried his own light. They stood in the darkness together, hands linked. Jarrett stood tall, his face warm and golden. Glowing. No sign of the damage Leanna had wrought. He looked whole. Tenn sobbed in relief and fell into his arms. Tears rained unchecked on Jarrett’s shoulder.
“I can’t,” Tenn said. He knew what this was. He hadn’t expected Jarrett to be conscious enough, but there it was. Emotional transference. He wanted to believe this was real, that this wasn’t just a memory. He wanted more than anything to live that lie. But he knew the awful truth.
These were Jarrett’s final thoughts.
Jarrett squeezed him tight, kissed the side of his neck.
“I can still do it,” Tenn sobbed. “I can still save you.”
Jarrett pulled back, his hands tight on Tenn’s shoulders.
“You did save me,” he said. His blue eyes sparkled like the sky, wet with tears.
“But I wanted us. Our future. I can give us that again. I can make you a Kin.”
Jarrett smiled sadly.
“I wanted our future, too. But I can’t let you do that. You know it wouldn’t be right, for either of us. You have to let me go.”
“But I told you I’d fight for you. I can’t just—”
Jarrett pressed a finger to his lips.