My heart pounded heavily, as if realizing these might be its last beats.
All I asked for was one more glimpse of Kiera. If I could look into those fiery amber eyes one last time, I could die with peace and hope in my heart.
As they hauled me back into the main cavern and up onto the supervisors’ platform that had served as the location for many beatings, my mind flickered through everything that could’ve been. Storming Aquinon. Defeating Renwell. Wearing my father’s crown. Getting to know the palace he and my mother had fled.
But those hopes were overshadowed by my brightest dream—having Kiera by my side through a coronation, a wedding, a life. Falling asleep beside her. Waking up next to her. Playing Death and Four in our rooms. Eating biscuits on a roof somewhere. Touching, kissing, never letting go.
Fucking Four, was this how Brielle had felt before she died? Plagued by the dreams of a life she desperately wanted but would never get to live?
An ache blossomed in my chest as they forced me to my knees on the wooden platform.
I frantically searched the crowd of prisoners and supervisors for Kiera’s familiar figure. One more glimpse wasn’t enough. I needed her to know. Even if I couldn’t speak the words aloud.
I didn’t hear what Dracles shouted. I didn’t care about the soldiers encircling me. I didn’t fear the sword poised at the back of my neck.
I feared not telling her. I feared losing her before she knew.
At last, I spotted her—one more dirty, scarred face among the many that surrounded my hasty execution. But her eyes burned into me like the sun I would never see again.
I locked gazes with her.
I love you, Kiera. I would give anything to have a life beyond this moment with you. My soul will never stop trying to find yours.
I love you, my little thief.
Her face crumpled for a moment, as if she’d understood some part of what my eyes were trying to tell her.
But then it hardened when Dracles shouted again. “Behold the last rebel of the Pravaran rebellion! He thought he could escape his fate, escape his punishment—the same one that you all bear now. He dies today to remind you that you cannot escape.”
He bent down to whisper in my ear. “This is what victory looks like—the better, stronger man standing over the weaker one as he dies at his feet. Just as your father did. Just as your other rebels perished.Weak.”
I ignored him, my gaze fixed on Kiera’s murderous one. She’d pushed her way to the front row of prisoners. Something glinted in her hand.
She wouldn’t?—
“Kill him,” Dracles ordered.
The sword lifted. Kiera cocked her arm back.
“We’re under attack!” someone shouted. “Enemies on the beach! We’re under attack!”
Everyone froze, except the soldier panting and waving his arms.
Then chaos unleashed.
“Sound the alarm!” Dracles bellowed.
Supervisors blew their horns. Prisoners scattered.
I started to rise, but Dracles knocked me back down.
“Finish him,” he snarled at the soldier behind me.
The soldier lifted his sword again, then jerked backward, a knife sticking out of his throat. He collapsed.
Dracles drew his sword and slashed at me. I rolled to the side, tumbling off the platform. A pair of gentle hands caught me.
Kiera.
