“Jasmine? Wake up. It’s me. I’m here.”

I could hear Alina—but was she real? I’d spent hours going in and out. Or was it minutes? There was no way of knowing. Time was something I had lost the ability to keep track of. I tried to open my eyes, but it was no use.

“I don’t even know if she can hear me,” Alina whispered.

I heard a lot of movement, and I knew she would be rushing around the cell—lighting candles, checking on her supplies, making sure she had enough of what she needed before she got started. I could see her in my mind’s eye as clearly as if I were watching.

I licked my lips and struggled to get air into my lungs, which felt like they didn’t want to expand anymore. They were giving up.

“I… hear… you…” I croaked out.

My voice was barely audible and reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. Harsh, cringe-worthy.

“Hold on,” Alina urged. She took my hand. “Squeeze. Show me you still have some strength left.”

I tried, but it was no use. Just touching her was painful. I let out a weak whimper, and she let go.

“You barely brought me back with enough time,” she snapped.

I wondered who she was snapping at. Which one of them. Did they both come in with her? Were the rest of them there? Did they all want to see me die? Would it be entertainment for them? I whimpered again.

“It’s all right, Jas,” my sister whispered.

“Alina… please…”

“I’m going to take care of you,” she replied. There were tears in her voice. “Just hold on a little longer, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt anymore.” She whispered instructions and feet shuffled back and forth once she did.

She was angry. Beyond angry. Enraged. She saw what Pierce’s blood had done to me. If I’d had the strength, I would’ve urged her to hold onto her temper long enough to save me.

“Jasmine? I’m here.” Pierce’s voice, close to my ear. “I want you to know I didn’t intend this. Please, know that I didn’t. I wanted to save you.”

“I know.” I did know. I could feel it. He thought he was doing the right thing, and I couldn’t blame him for that.

It wasn’t his fault that we couldn’t tell each other’s true nature at first glance.

“Here. Drink this. For the pain.”

I couldn’t have opened my mouth faster.

Alina touched the edge of a small bottle to my lips, and a cool, almost minty liquid poured out into my mouth. I swallowed carefully, my throat swollen, and within moments the pain faded away. It was there, and then it wasn’t. I would have wept if I could’ve managed it.

There was a reason why I had to drink the painkiller first, and I knew it a minute later.

“I need you to prop her up,” she instructed. “Put your knees under her shoulders. I have to get closer to the wound.”

If it weren’t for that blessed, beautiful numbness, I would’ve felt every bit of, and it might have been what finally pushed me over the edge into the great beyond.

As it was, I still felt minor discomfort when Pierce lifted me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered when I winced.

I only shook my head to show him it didn’t matter. I rested in his lap, with the smell of him all around me and the warmth of his body under me.

“Hold the candles closer,” Alina muttered. “Damn, if she wasn’t in such bad shape, I would’ve moved her someplace else.”

She touched my shoulder, and I barely made out the sensation of her applying a foul-smelling paste to my wound.

I turned my face away with a shudder.

“It’s all right,” Pierce said, stroking my hair. “You’ll be better soon. Just relax as best you can for now.”

“That’s right, Jasmine. Listen to him.” Alina’s voice was as soft and seductive as a lover’s kiss, and I knew in the back of my mind that this was all part of the healing even as the rest of me sank willingly under her spell.

She was comfort and calm and peace. She was an end to pain.

All I had to do was follow the sound of her voice while Pierce’s strong-but-gentle touch lulled me. It was so good to be without pain again. I had almost forgotten there was such a feeling.