Frosted (Frosted #1 | Jackunzel)

{ Chapter Twenty-Six }

"No!"

Katherine's sketchbook fell to the floor with a muffled thunk.Cold fury filled Jack as he clenched the box tightly in his hand. As he lunged down toward an observing Nightlight and shoved him away from Rapunzel's softening form. Her blood was warm against his skin as he pressed one hand over her shoulder, and the other by her wound. She had healing magic. If he removed the blade, would she be able to save herself? Maybe it hadn't quite reached her heart...

But it was already too late. Her eyes had lost their focus.

It was too late.

It couldn't be.

Rapunzel wasn't supposed to die.

Her hand was heavy and limp as he pulled it into his lap, clenching it hard as if that could bring her back. "Please," he whispered. A wave of sorrow filled him like an avalanche crashing into his heart. An uncontrollable sob tore through him, and then another. Rapunzel. Beautiful Rapunzel. They'd been so close to reaching safety.

What had any of this been for, if not to save her?

Whispers of thoughts not his own sounded faintly in his head. Should be... water... Not very long now... Though distant, he recognized the voice as Nightlights. His gaze shifted to the diamond blade deeply imbedded in Rapunzel's chest, a wet ring of blood surrounding its glistening base. Darkness tinted the edges of his vision. A slight, phantom weight tugged at his sleeve, the nape of his neck, as he leaned over Rapunzel's body.

Nightlight.

It was his fault, wasn't it? Jack had successfully trapped Pitch Black in his new eternal prison, and Nightlight had betrayed them all. The Man in the Moon had betrayed them all. The Guardians were his children, but Nightlight had been his first. His favourite. His bodyguard. He knew all of the secrets the Guardians weren't allowed to hear.

Jack could have sworn he saw a glimpse of fear in Nightlight's eyes at he twisted to meet his gaze. Nightlight stood back, eyes briefly flicking toward the box that Jack had let tumble down beside Rapunzel's shoulder. Jack could barely register the confusion flooding Nightlight's aura before the feeling came over him like a dizzying rush.

It felt like a claw had suddenly latched itself onto his brain, sinking deep within its folds as they pushed Jack back to the periphery of his own body. His fingers became a distant thought, even as he watched them flex and curl seemingly on their own. He felt as if he was floating, unfeeling, with chopped off limbs that he could not control no matter how badly he wanted to reattach them. Yet there was a warm weight at his back that he could vaguely sense sitting there, hugging the length of his body from wrist to wrist, and ankle to ankle. Heavy, too heavy for him to move.

The world felt slow.

Slow, and dull, and blurry.

His gaze turned back to Rapunzel's soft face. Was it already losing its colour? Jack wanted to brush a finger over her cheek. He wanted to feel the warmth of her life, the sway of her breathing. Instead, his chin dipped down to her chest, where the diamond blade lay.

His fingers wrapped around its base, slicing his palm open as they tightened enough to slowly pull it out of her body. Jack's stomach clenched painfully as he watched blood freely pour out of the wound.

Stop it, he yelled at himself. He didn't want to see her this way—bloody, with a deep gash in her chest. He never wanted to see her this way.

Bloody.

Dead.

Not here.

Warmth pressed against his cheek, and his head turned back to face his friends.