Sweat broke out on his brow as another wave of pain hit him. I wiped it away and my touch eased him. Through the bond I felt some of his pain, and I realized he was blocking me from the worst of it. Even now, he was trying to protect me. Listen to me, Nikolas. I’ve seen vamhir demons, and they’re weak. They control through pain. Fight the pain, and you’ll beat it.

He grew still and his eyes opened. “I’ll fight until my last breath for you. But if this thing takes my body, I want you to remember that my soul belongs to you. No matter what the demon does or says, I love you. I will always love only you.”

“I’ll fight too. I promise.” I tested the barrier, and my pulse leapt when more power slipped past it. It wasn’t enough to use as a weapon, but it meant the barrier was failing. We just needed a little more time. Nikolas, my power is coming back. Just hold on a little longer, and I’ll be strong enough for both of us.

You can’t save me and fight Elena. Use your power to get away from here.

No. I won’t leave you.

His eyes pleaded with me. Get out of here, Sara. Get help and come back for me.

I shook my head. “It’ll be too late.”

Elena’s hand gripped my shoulder painfully. “You two have had plenty of time to say your goodbyes. It’s time to get on with my wedding.”

“Wait, Elena, please.” Nikolas begged and her grip loosened.

“Yes, my love?” she asked sweetly. I could hear in her tone that she liked hearing him beg.

“One kiss before you take her.”

Elena snarled, and I was glad I couldn’t see her face. “You’re my groom, Nikolas. You don’t kiss another girl on your wedding day.”

“Just a goodbye kiss. You will have all the rest.”

“Oh.” She let out a girlish giggle that made me grit my teeth. “Very well. One kiss.”

“My arms?” He gave her a beseeching look.

She huffed then ordered the vampire to release his hands. “Fine. Get on with it.”

“Nikolas, what are you doing?” I whispered. He’d said he would fight, but he sounded like he was giving up.

I nearly wept when his arms wrapped around me. He smiled tenderly as he brushed aside the hair that had fallen on my face.

The first brush of his lips against mine was so achingly sweet I couldn’t stop the whimper that rose in my throat. It felt like weeks instead of days since the last time he’d kissed me, and I pressed close, needing more. His mouth parted under mine and he deepened the kiss, drawing me in until I forgot everything but him. For one blissful moment, there was only Sara and Nikolas, and there was no world outside of his arms. The bond between us expanded as we opened ourselves completely to each other and shared our love and fear.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I tasted my tears on my lips. Nikolas kissed the tears away and whispered that everything would be okay. I buried my face against his throat and wept.

“Time’s up,” Elena snapped.

I lifted my head, but Nikolas tightened his arms around me. “Be strong, Sara,” he said against my ear. “Live – for me.”

I gasped when a tidal wave of energy surged through the bond, overwhelming me in its intensity as it coursed through my body. Never with my own Mori had I experienced such raw power or felt the kind of strength that was saturating every cell of my body.

Nikolas’s arms fell away and I staggered back from him. “What have you done?”

His face was gray and clammy, and his eyes were clouded when they met mine briefly before they closed. A violent tremor shook his body, and the vampires had to restrain him to keep him from falling off the platform. The episode passed and his head lolled to one side.

My Mori wailed. Every part of me froze, incapable of accepting what I was seeing and feeling. Solmi! my Mori cried, freeing me from my paralysis. The bond was still there, but already I could feel it weakening. I threw my arms around him and pushed the strength he’d given me back into his body. “You promised you’d fight!” I screamed. “You said you wouldn’t leave me.”

Nothing.

I beat on his chest. Beneath my fists something moved, and my power surged around the weakening barrier to get to the vamhir demon growing inside him. I pushed desperately into his chest, but I already knew it was too late.

I sagged against him and stared down at his lifeless face. “No. No, no, no, no.”

“Nikolas?” Elena ripped me away from him, and I fell to my knees in the snow, gasping for breath.

He wouldn’t leave me. He’s not gone. He’s not gone. He’s not gone.

Elena’s scream of rage penetrated my shock and sent vampires running from the courtyard. “You killed him.”

Her words sent a shockwave through my body, and I felt something fracture deep inside of me. Out of the fissure poured grief unlike any I had known before, and it burned through me, consuming me until I knew there would be nothing left but an empty shell. My Mori roared its own agony, and I called to it. It joined with me and our pain became one. I hung my head and let the grief take us.

When Elena’s hands wrapped around my throat and squeezed the air from my lungs, I didn’t fight her. When she threw me across the courtyard and I lay in a heap in the snow, I didn’t try to get up. When she screamed all the ways she was going to torture me, I didn’t flinch. She had taken the only thing that mattered to me. There was nothing else she could do to hurt me.

Then Elena stalked over to the platform and picked up Nikolas’s body.