Taste a Thousand Deaths (Marionettes of Myth #3)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Everything hurt. Everything was stiff, like standing for too long on a packed tram, trying not to move, trying to hold perfectly still.

It felt like Toivo had been holding perfectly still for too long.

His eyelids peeled open. His lips moved, cracked like the paint on walls of abandoned houses, his tongue glued to his teeth. His throat worked as he blinked the fog from his vision. He found warm amber eyes, wide as she hovered over him. Her hands were cool as she smoothed the bangs from his forehead, as she found his hand and twined their fingers. Her surprise became something else—overwhelming relief. A smile on her lips warmed her eyes and cheeks as she squeezed his hand.

His voice wouldn't work. His head was an anchor and his body could do little more than shift, as if his bones had turned to lead. He glanced around, eyes focusing on his bedroom, on the familiar white, empty walls, the familiar wardrobe and nightstand.

How had he gotten here? The last he remembered was...

The last he remembered was upturning the white tiger with a slice of the scythe and lunging off the ledge of the vampire court to go after Kali without a second thought. He hadn't needed to think.

The last he remembered was taking Kali's arm as she took his, and turning into something that transcended their physical bodies.

The last he remembered was impact.

And now he was in his bed with Ave at his side.

Her voice was a whisper as she said, "You've been asleep. You've been asleep for a while. You and Kali burnt yourselves out. But it's okay. It's finished, Toivo."

It was finished.

The hinges of his jaw buckled with rust, but still his voice wouldn't work. The best he could do was swallow and focus on the way her hair hung around the gentle curves of her face, the lightest of sun freckles against the copper of her skin. She was more beautiful than he ever remembered, and before he knew it, his fingers touched her cheek. Her hand covered his as she leaned into his palm.

Then she closed the gap between them to press her lips to his forehead. "It's over. You did it and it's over now."

He let his eyes fall closed for only a few heartbeats, relishing her touch, the spice of her scent, the cooling vibrations of her presence, and then he looked up at her again. "I-Is...everyone...?"

"Everyone..." She hesitated, chewing on words before gulping them down. "Everyone's okay. Everyone's safe."

Everyone, aside from the one they'd already lost.

But a sigh left him anyway. "How....H-How long...?"

"Six days."

He blinked at her, waiting for the answer to change, waiting for something to change. When it didn't, when he began the stages of grieving, air wheezed out of him.

Her lips pressed together, a face that said she hadn't anticipated anything less from him, and she kept a tight hold on his hand between both of hers.

"It's okay," she said. "I'll forgive you. I can't promise the others will be as gracious."

He tried to laugh, gave it his best effort, but the blanket was heavy and his own ribs were even heavier.

Shortly after, Carmi came in with Kali loaded in his arms and Yuuhi just beside him, and Carmi rested Kali's just-as-limp body onto the bed beside them, and they were altogether.