Chapter 5

NIKOLAI

"Time of death?" I repeated the words slowly, my grip tightening around the doctor's coat. "Say that again."

She can't be gone. She cannot be gone.

"I'm so sor—" The slap left my palm before I could think. My entire body was shaking.

I should have taken her from Noah the moment I came back. I stood there, passive, like a fool, and now she was paying for it.

"She is not dead." My voice broke between a command and a plea. "Do something. Fix this."

Her chest wasn't moving. I could see it from where I stood.

My knees hit the floor. Tears burned down my face. I had come back for her, finally come back, and I had wasted every second pretending I didn't care.

"I'll give you anything." I pressed my hand against her cold arm. "Anything. Just bring her back."

"Doctor!" One of the nurses spun around from the equipment. "There's a faint pulse. She's not completely gone!"

The doctor moved instantly.

Hope.

It cracked through my ribs like something violent. I hadn't realized until that moment how completely she owned me.

"Skye—" I was already on my feet, crossing the room. "Skye, please."

The doctor shoved me back. "You shouldn't be in here." He pressed two fingers to her neck and turned to the nearest nurse. "Get another oxygen mask. Now."

Two men in dark uniforms filled the doorway before I could argue.

"Sir. The family waits outside."

I didn't fight them. I let them walk me out, my eyes fixed on her through the glass until the door swung shut between us.

Skye. We drank from the same vine, you and I. You don't get to leave.

I stood in that hallway for what felt like a decade.

When the door finally opened and Doctor Callan stepped out, I had to stop myself from grabbing him.

"She's stable." He exhaled. "She's been asking for someone. Her husband, we think. She keeps saying the same name."

My jaw tightened. Even now, even after everything Noah had done to her, she was waking up and reaching for him?

"Doctor Callan." I looked at his name tag, then back at his face. "You pronounced her dead while there was still a pulse. If that nurse hadn't caught it, you would have killed her." I kept my voice steady. "You should consider submitting a voluntary relinquishment of your license before I have it revoked for you."

He went pale. "I — what—"

I was already past him, pushing back through the ward door.

She looked small against the white sheets. Pale. Still. Her lips were moving faintly, forming a word I couldn't quite catch from across the room.

"You're cruel, Skye." I said under my breath, walking toward her.

Then I stopped.

"...Rye…"

I stood completely still.

Rye.

Not Noah. Not her husband's name. Mine.

"Is that the name she's been saying?" I turned to the nearest nurse.

"Yes. We assumed it was her husband."

The corner of my mouth pulled up before I could stop it. "It is."

I moved to her bedside and looked down at her this woman who had every reason to hate me and was still, even half-conscious, calling for me.

"Troublemaker," I said quietly, brushing the hair away from her face.

I lowered myself into the chair beside her bed, elbows on my knees, watching her breathe. The monitor beeped steadily. Her heartbeat was holding.

"Rye…" she exhaled again, barely sound at all.

That single syllable undid me more than anything else in that room.

She used to say my name like that, soft, unguarded, back when she still trusted me. Back when she still believed I was worth trusting.

She hated me now. She had every right to. And still, even unconscious, even after everything, it was my name on her lips.

I reached for her hand and held it carefully, like it might break, running my thumb across her knuckles.

"You've always known how to scare me." I leaned closer, voice dropping low. "When you wake up, I won't make the same mistake twice. You're not going back to him. You're not going back to anyone." My throat tightened. "When you open your eyes, every part of me is yours. It always was."

Her fingers shifted, the smallest movement against my palm.

I stood slowly as her head turned toward me, her lashes struggling apart.

"Rye?" Her voice was barely there, confused and small. "Why are you here?"