CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 156: A HEARTBEAT FROM DEATH

Kieran’s POV

I paced outside the door like a damned ghost.

Every second that passed without a sound of her from the room felt like another nail being driven into my chest. I could still hear her screams echoing in my skull "Stay the hell away from me!" like they’d been carved into the stone walls themselves.

I clenched my fists. This was all my fault. Every goddamn piece of it.

The moment she lost that arm, the moment she collapsed bleeding out, it was the cost of every decision I’ve made. The price of becoming king. And she was paying it. Not me.

The door creaked open and Astrid stepped out, q Magnus quickly stepped forward on sighting Astrid

I was in front of her before she could fully close the door. "How is she?"

Astrid looked tired. Defeated, even. She shook her head. "She’s... breaking down. I don’t think she’s ready to see anyone. She wishes we hadn’t saved her. She wants to be alone."

I felt something twist in my chest. Hard and deep.

"She doesn’t know you sacrificed twenty years of your life to save her?" Magnus asked.

Astrid threw him a look and raised a hand. "Don’t. That’s not what she needs right now. Everything is too much for her to process. Give her time. Hopefully.... she’ll come around."

I tried to nod, but I couldn’t even do that. My eyes were locked on the door again. As if I could see through it. As if I could see her.

Astrid laid a hand on my shoulder. "How’s Cyrin doing with the Queen?"

I shook my head. "I haven’t checked."

She blinked. "You haven’t?"

"I can’t think about her right now," I admitted, eyes still on the damn door. "Not until I know Lorraine’s okay."

"I’ll go check on them then," Astrid said gently.

Magnus gave me a nod, then followed after her.

I was alone again.

I stood there in the silence, jaw clenched, breathing slow and heavy.

Give her space, I whispered to myself

But what if she needs someone right now? I argued with myself again

She said she didn’t want to see me.

But still.

I’m not comfortable with just leaving her alone by herself.

My gut twisted harder.

I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

I needed to see her.

I stepped toward the door, hand hovering over the handle. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to say.

I’m sorry?

Please forgive me?

I still love you, even if I tried to pretend I didn’t?

I turned the handle.

The room was dim and silent.

And then I saw her.

Lorraine.

On the floor.

Curled near the table.

A scalpel in her hand.

Blood. So much blood. Pooling beneath her. Spraying from the gash in her throat like a fountain.

"NO... NO, LORRAINE!"

I was at her side in a second, sliding to my knees, catching her as her head lolled back.

"Shit.... shit.... no no no—" I whispered, pressing my palm against her neck to slow the bleeding, but it was useless. The blood gushed through my fingers, hot and terrifying.

Her eyes fluttered, barely open. Glazed.

"Stay with me, Lorraine," I said, shaking her gently. "Stay with me, do you hear me?"

There was no answer.

Her lips were trembling. Her face pale.

I grabbed a sheet from the bed and wrapped it tight around her throat, tying it with shaking hands

I lifted her carefully into my arms.

Her body was cold.

So cold.

"Help!" I roared.

Her blood was still soaking into my skin.

I didn’t care.

I didn’t even register how heavy my breathing was as I sped through the corridor, Lorraine limp and bleeding in my arms. I heard a voice, panicked, breaking, but I couldn’t stop.

"What happened again? What’s going on?" Felix’s voice cracked beside me as I passed.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

I reached the steel door of the secondary medical bay and slammed it open with my foot. The metal creaked and banged against the wall as I stepped inside.

Everyone turned.

Astrid. Magnus. Varya. Cyrin.

Their expressions dropped from confusion to horror in seconds.

"What happened?!" Astrid asked, already moving toward me.

"She.... she slit her own throat," I said hoarsely, walking straight to Cyrin. My arms were trembling, but I held her tighter. "You have to help me save her. Save her Cyrin, its a royal command"

Without hesitation, Varya grabbed the tray beside her and cleared the main table in one sweep of her hand. Cyrin was already motioning for me.

"Put her down. Now," he said.

I laid Lorraine gently onto the table, her head lolling to the side, blood still leaking despite my makeshift tourniquet. I wanted to scream. I wanted to break something. But I didn’t.

"Is Lorraine... dying again?" Felix’s voice cracked from behind. He had followed us in. I turned.

His face, it aas pure devastation.

Cyrin didn’t look up. "Everyone out. Except Varya."

"What? No! I’m not leaving..." Felix began to protest.

"Everyone Out!" Cyrin snapped, his voice a thunderclap.

Astrid pulled Felix by the arm before he could say more, and Magnus followed after them.

Everyone except me.

I stood there, blood dripping off my hands, watching as Cyrin sliced open the bandage to examine the damage. Lorraine’s throat was still open, still leaking, but the scalpel had missed the major arteries just barely.

Still, barely wasn’t good enough.

"You need to step out, Your Majesty," Cyrin said without looking at me. "Let us work."

"I’m not...."

"You gave a royal command. Let me obey it. Please," he said, and something in his tone finally made me step back.

I staggered out of the room.

And I couldn’t go far.

I stayed by the door.

Pacing.

One hand clenching, unclenching.

The blood on my hands had dried into a tacky mess.

I didn’t try to go and clean myself up

Not yet.

Not until I knew she’d live.

I pressed my palm to the wall beside me and leaned in, trying to breathe.

She screamed at me to leave.

She begged us not to save her.

And I still walked in too late.

What if I had gone in five minutes earlier?

Three?

What if I hadn’t listened to her at all?

Would she still be whole?

Would she still be smiling?

I banged a fist against the wall once out a frustration, making the wall crack

Inside the room, I heard nothing.

And that silence felt like a noose around my neck.

I pressed my ear to the cold metal door.

Please.... Lorraine, just stay with me.

Don’t leave me again.

The silence had stretched so long I wasn’t sure if time was still moving. Until, finally....

The door creaked open.

I shot upright, heart lurching violently.

Cyrin stepped out. His white coat was streaked with crimson. His gloves were soaked. His eyes met mine with a weariness I hadn’t seen before

"She’s stable," he said.

I exhaled. My knees nearly gave out.

"But," Cyrin added quickly, and the word froze the relief before it could settle, "her body is incredibly weak. She’s lost a dangerous amount of blood in too short a time. Her wolf is barely doing anything to help heal her"

I nodded, swallowing the bitter knot in my throat. "But she’ll pull through, right?"

"If she doesn’t try to take her life again," Cyrin said quietly. "That’s the real threat now. If she wakes up and spirals again, we might not be able to save her. This time... this time it was close, My King. Too close."

My jaw clenched. The image of Lorraine on the floor, her blood pooling like a crimson lake beneath her, seared into my mind. I’d carry that vision to my grave.

"I’ll make sure she doesn’t get the chance to try again," I said. "She won’t be left alone."

Cyrin looked at me for a long moment and gave a small nod. But then I saw it, something else on his face. A deeper concern.

"What is it?" I asked.

He sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. "The Queen."

The weight of the world returned, crashing over me like a tidal wave.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Two hours at best," he said. "That’s how long the last tank of wolfsbane will last at the current dosage. We can’t reduce the flow or she’ll start to wake."

"And have you... have you found anything? A way to keep her stable once she does wake up?" I asked, my voice low, almost dreading the answer.

Cyrin’s silence was answer enough.

I pressed a hand to my face.

"We’ve tried everything. Varya and I have dug through every record, every spell, every medicinal binder. We’ve tested blood-binding rituals, neurological inhibitors, even tried tracing the mutation in her DNA, but nothing has worked," Cyrin continued. "We haven’t found a single viable method to control her once she regains consciousness."

"She’ll wake in two hours," I said flatly.

"Yes."

"And if she wakes without a solution...."

"She’ll kill us all," Cyrin said.

I looked at him.

There it was.

The unspoken truth.

"We may have to make a choice," he said quietly. "Either let her wake and risk her killing everyone in this hideout, including Lorraine, including you, or...."

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He didn’t need to. I knew what he was suggesting.

Kill her before she wakes.

Kill my mother. While she sleeps.

Or she kills us all.