Chapter 273


    #Chapter 273 – Cora’s Gift


    3(rd) Person


    Cora almost skids to a stop as she flies into E’s hospital room. “What,” she gasps. “What is it – is she


    –”


    But Sinir is just standing at the side of E’s bed, his hands pressed deep into his pockets, staring at


    the door as if he was waiting for her. Cora bites her words back, knowing that if E had …well, Sinir


    wouldn’t just be standing still. He’d be tearing the world to pieces.


    Cora lets out a deep breath, her eyes trailing down to her sister in the bed. God, she looks so fail just


    laying there, wired up to all of those machines. Her passionate sister, so full of life, looks like a little bird


    crumpled up in that bed…


    “She’s fine,” Sinir snaps, bringing Cora’s eyes back to him. Rogeres into the room then as well


    and Sinir’s eyes flick to him, a little surprised. After all, he hadn’t called for Roger, he’d called for


    Cora. Apparently, they’d been together.


    Sinir didn’t let himself think about why. He didn’t care. His attention returns to Cora alone. “Give it


    back to her,” Sinir demands, his voice even and controlled.


    “What?” Cora asks, standing up straight. “Give what back? I didn’t take anything -”


    “What’s going on, Dominic?” Roger asks, stepping in front of Cora, realizing that his brother is worked


    up about something. “Tell us. We need to understand.”


    Frustrated at not being immediately obeyed, Sinir takes a deep breath and steels himself, trying to


    will patience into his body, even though he’s runpletely out of it. He just wants this done. Wants


    her back.


    “I met her,” Sinir snaps, working to summarize the past few hours as quickly as possible. “In the


    dream state. She was there with…with Rafe.” Cora’s face lights up with this news and she opens her


    mouth to ask a thousand questions, but Sinir keeps going. “E is strong in her spirit, but the doctor


    says her body is too weak. That she would need a gift from the Goddess to heal her now.” His eyes


    move to Cora’s, angry. “Which you took from her.”


    Cora’s mouth drops open at his usation and a hand flies to her breast. “Sinir,” she breathes,” I


    would never – she gave it to me – I had to


    –”


    “I don’t care,” he interrupts, his voice raising now. “You took it, and now you have to give it back.” He


    takes a step towards her now, as if he’d rip it from her body if it would save his mate.


    “Easy,” Roger warns, taking a step closer to his brother. “Easy, Dominic. We hear you. You have a


    point, okay? Just…just let Cora think.”


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    The brothers turn to Cora then, pinning her under their dual stare. Her breathes faster as she


    quickly sorts through her thoughts. Is this her fault? Did she do this to E, by taking the gift? Was she


    the reason her sister would die?


    “Cora,” Roger says carefully. “What do you think?”


    ”


    “Um,” she mutters, her eyes unfocused as she stares at the ground, trying to piece it together. “I don’t


    know? I didn’t mean…I didn’t mean to? But he might be right? When I took the gift from her,


    that’s when she copsed…”


    “Well,” Roger says, working hard to keep the energy in the room calm, feeling like he’s walking in a


    minefield that could explode at any minute. “Can you give it back?”


    –


    “May maybe?” Cora replies, lifting her eyes and looking between the brothers. “But will that be good for


    her? She couldn’t she couldn’t hold it all, when she was weak…”


    –


    Sinir begins to growl then and Cora shrinks away, overwhelmed.


    “Enough,” Roger snaps, ring at his brother and gesturing towards Cora. “Can’t you see that she’s


    trying? That none of this is her fault? She’s trying to help – let her help, if she can.” Sinir visibly fights


    his instincts to force Cora to do his bidding, to save his mate. But Roger is right – terrifying the girl isn’t


    helping, so he forces himself to take two steps back, to return to his spot by E’s head.


    Cora rxes a little as Sinir backs off. She looks between the brothers, hesitating. “Are you sure you


    want me to try this? Even if it could…hurt her?”


    –


    Roger glances over his shoulder at the open door. “Do you want me to get the doctor and ask?”


    “No,” Sinir bites out. “He’s done all he can. He’s out of this now. This is between us. Between… the


    two of you.” It kills him to say it, to admit – however tacitly that there’s nothing he himself can do


    anymore. That this is now between the sisters, and the best he can do is watch. “Do it.”


    Cora still hesitates and is surprised when Rafees to her side and takes her hand. “We have to try,”


    he murmurs. When she looks up at him, she’s further shocked to see that his eyes are filled with hope.


    “I think he’s right, Cora. It makes sense. And it’s a gift – I don’t think it can hurt her.” Cora’s lip begins to


    tremble then as she thinks about it – the horrible, awful consequences that this could have if it went


    wrong. But Roger holds her gaze, tightening his grip on her hand, giving her the strength she needs,


    the courage.


    “All right,” Cora whispers, nodding once and moving swiftly to the side of E’s bed, taking her sister’s


    hand. “Um,” she says, looking around. “Can I have a chair?”


    Roger quickly moves to bring her one from across the room, helping her settle into it. As he moves


    away, Cora tucks her legs up beneath her so that she’s seated cross–legged, as she was that night in


    the desert with E and Reina. Sinir makes no move, standing stoically by his mate, watching


    everything.


    Cora gives them both a tremulous smile and then, taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes. She had


    watched everything that E did that night in the desert. Had watched her sister fall deeper into a state


    of truth, had watched her make that connection with her mother, had watched her be filled with the


    Goddess’s gift and start to glow with it. Cora hadn’t wanted to admit it then, but she’d felt….well, a little


    jealous. It was the jealousy of an orphan for a friend who found her mother, the jealousy of a girl who


    was starting to feel like a tag–along while her best friend found her mate, and her true identity, and her


    calling. A whole beautiful life while Cora had…


    Well, not nothing. But not that. So, she had been jealous – happy for E but wanting a little piece of


    that for herself as well. And she had been ashamed of those emotions in that moment, of her envy, and


    had felt herself…undeserving of her spot on that sacred trip to the desert tomune with the


    Goddess.


    But now, after learning the truth?


    –


    Cora knew that all of that the envy, the feelings of inadequacy – it had all been in her head. The


    Goddess was her mother as well, after all. And she, Cora, a human, had been the one to give the gift to


    the world. There was no reason to think that E could do anything that she could not.


    Well, except turn into a wolf.


    But Cora pushes that thought to the side along with the rest of her doubts. Instead, she embraces her


    identity and sinks – as she had seen E do – into that deeper state. And as she does that – as the


    light behind her eyes fades from orange to green to a deep and richvender and the sounds of the


    room’s medical devices fades to the background – Cora finds a peace within herself.


    And…there.


    There, right at the center, where she imagines her heart to be, Cora finds it. The gift, shining, waiting,


    not exhausted but endless and ready to be given at will. Cora moves forward towards it, wrapping her


    hands around it, feeling it pulse with warmth. As she lifts it in her hands, she imagines that she can


    almost hear her mother speaking to her, singing, encouraging her to give it.


    So she does. Cora opens her eyes in the real world and is not at all surprised to see the gift glowing in


    her hands – a real thing, a true entity, lighting the room with its warmth. Cora smiles at it and then


    nces at Roger, pursing her lips against herugher to see him staring at her in shock, his mouth


    hanging open.


    –


    But when her eyes move to Sinir, she sees that he has not moved at all. That he just stares at her,


    demand in every line of him. She nods to him, agreeing. It is time.


    So Cora simply stands and takes two steps closer to her sister. She reaches out her hands, presenting


    the gift, leaning over to hold it close over E’s own heart.


    “I love you, sister,” Cora whispers. “It’s time for you to take it back.”


    And there is not a doubt in her mind as she opens her hands and gently ces the gift directly in the


    center of E’s chest.