Cherish

My heart aches and my stomach drops as I watch Andrei fall to his knees. A horrible, gut-wrenching cry escapes my mouth as I break free of Kade’s grip and run straight through the fighting to Andrei’s side.

I wrap myself around Andrei as I glare up at the man who stabbed him. His eyes have that same sickening gleam as the other soldier. God, were all Ikishri this corrupt and horrid?

“You can burn in hell,” I growl at him, tears falling down my cheeks, a split second before I let my power lash out at him and he starts burning from the inside out. A painful and gruesome death. Definitely one he deserves. I don’t take my eyes off him until he is on the ground, screaming as his skin and clothing catch on fire. I turn my full attention to the man in my arms, completely ignoring the burning man beside me. “Andrei?” I ask uncertainly.

“Cherish,” Andrei gasps out, “wh-what are you doing here?”

“I wasn’t going to leave you guys to fight alone,” I snap as I cup his face in my hands. “You should know that by now, damn it.”

He smiles weakly at me as his hand lifts up, brushing a strand of hair off my cheek as we ignore the sounds of the battle around us, even though I’m acutely aware of my other guys fighting and standing guard near us, ensuring no one can bother the two of us. “Baby,” he whispers. “You should have stayed where it was safe.”

“I’m safest with the three of you,” I state firmly. “You know it as well as I do.”

Andrei’s eyes droop shut as he leans to the side. My stomach knots as I move around him and adjust myself so that he can lay his head in my lap. I brush the strands of black hair out of his eyes. They flutter open showing me his dazed and beautiful chocolate gaze.

“Stay with me,” I beg softly, my heart aching as tears continue falling. “Please, don’t leave me.”

“I love you and I’ll never leave you, Baby. You know that,” he assures me in a slightly slurred voice as his eyes fall closed again.

Panic grips me and I pat his cheek. “Eyes on me.” Nothing. I pat his cheek a little harder. “Andrei, look at me!”

I sob as his eyelids open halfway but he doesn’t even look like he’s all there. His eyes flow shut again, this time no amount of begging or patting his face to get his attention works. I pull him to me, feeling his heartbeat slow as I sob into his chest, begging him to come back to me.

No. I can’t live without any of them. They all have to be safe and with me and... here. Andrei can’t die. He can’t leave me.

Please, please don’t leave me.

A glowing light by my face makes me open my eyes in confusion, tears still falling hard. I blink a few times to clear my vision. A gasp escapes me as I look at my glowing hand, pressed against Andrei’s wound in a vain attempt to stop the blood.

I vaguely realize that the fighting around me has stopped and Xander and Kade both place their hands on my shoulders.

“Keep going, Cherish,” Xander encourages. “Close your eyes and let it out. Push it into Andrei.”

“What do you mean?” I ask quietly.

“You’re healing him, mia,” Kade explains. “Listen to Xander and finish healing him. You’ve got this.”

I nod, sniffling as I try to get control of myself again. Closing my eyes, I focus on pushing the healing magic into Andrei’s wound beneath my hand. I gasp in wonder as I feel his skin knit back together under my palm. I check his pulse with my other hand, joy pouring through me as I feel his heartbeat getting stronger with each beat.

Within minutes, Andrei is fully healed, but he’s still not awake. “Why isn’t he waking up?” I ask as panic starts to take root again, putting me in a chokehold.

“He lost a lot of blood, Princess,” Xander explains. “Even before that wound. He’ll be out for at least an hour while he recoups.”

“So, he’ll be okay?” I ask, voice shaky.

Xander and Kade chuckle softly. “Yeah, he’ll be okay, ma hai,” Kade says, relief evident in his tone.

I let out a sigh of relief and press my lips to Andrei’s forehead, just resting them there as I hold him close to me, not wanting to let him go. Footsteps draw our attention to the other end of the hallway.

I vaguely recognize the team walking toward us as the ones that had to leave me in the woods during Forrest’s little hunt.

“Durlan,” Xander greets.

The leader, who I’m assuming is called Durlan speaks. “Xander, Kade.” His eyes flick down to me and Andrei on the floor. “Will he be okay?”

“Yeah, she healed him,” Kade answers, his hand squeezing my shoulder slightly.

Durlan’s gaze flicks to me. “You have healing as well?” He blanches, seeming to realize that we never actually told people what my powers consisted of. “I mean, I saw the work you made of the guards not far from your father’s office with the vines. Then we know what happened with Forrest with your fire, so it’s kind of shocking that you have more than those.”

I frown. “Is that not normal?” Xander catches my eye and barely shakes his head, telling me to drop the subject. Letting out a sigh, I decide to go with it. “Never mind. Are they gone?” I ask, directing the question to Durlan.

Durlan nods. “Yes. I think their goal wasn’t to really get you. I think it was more of a warning,” he suggests, eyes flitting from Xander to Kade then finally to me.

“A warning?” My brows push together. What kind of a warning does this send?

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Xander starts, “that actually makes sense. This was more of  a warning that they can get to you at any time. Their army has always been bigger than ours, so they have the men to spare. Many of the men that came here tonight will have known that they would most likely not come back from this attack.”

“But why? Why go to all the trouble?” I ask, confused.

Kade growls. “They want you scared. They want you to think that you’re cornered.”

“Then maybe we should send them a little message,” I suggest, my voice hard. I may be half-human but that doesn’t mean I have to lie down and take this shit. That’s probably what everyone expects me to do, anyway.

“A message?” Kade asks as Xander, Durlan, and Durlan’s men study me closely.

I smirk. “A message.”

“I can’t believe I need to ask this,” Xander says exasperation clear in his tone, “but what kind of message, Princess?”

“She was crowned Queen already, wasn’t she? We weren’t gone that long,” Durlan asks, interrupting what I would have said.

I laugh softly. “Yeah, but ‘Princess’ is Xander’s nickname for me,” I assure him.

“Oh,” Durlan murmurs, looking between the three of us with an odd look on his face. I wonder what that’s about.

Looking up at Xander, I answer his question. “The kind of message that proves that I’m not and will never be scared of the Ikishri.”

Xander studies me. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

I grin wickedly. “It’s unlikely.”

A groan comes from both Xander and Kade. “Damn it, Cherish,” Kade practically whines, making my smile grow wider.

“We’ve already come too damn close to losing you several times, Princess,” Xander says, his voice growing hard. “I’m not going to let you put yourself into danger again.”

I raise an eyebrow at him. “First, no one lets me do anything, Xander. Second, if you would chill the hell out instead of automatically assuming what I’m going to say then you would see that it’ll work. You might not like the fact that we have to leave here to do it was all that I meant.”

Xander lets out a breath and bends over to press a kiss on top of my hair. “Sorry,” he murmurs.

“It’s fine. I get that you’re protective, but damn, let me explain before you snap.”

Kade snickers. “Well, why don’t we do this somewhere more comfortable so that Andrei can get some real rest.”

I nod. “Yeah.” I look up at Durlan and his men. “If you would like to join us, that would be amazing, because we will need your guys’ help too.”

Durlan frowns for a fraction of a second before bowing. “Of course, Majesty.”

Xander moves around me and crouches down, reaching to lift Andrei out of my arms. “Let’s go to your room and we can chat there.”

We all agree and follow Xander to my room.