Fucking Four.His words were like matches that set fire to our plans. Years. Gone.
Rage filled me. I tossed aside the useless uniform and unsheathed one of my blades. “Stay here, Brielle. Don’t come out until he’s dead.”
“Aiden, no, he’ll?—”
“Don’t try to escape,” Renwell commanded. “I have a dozen of my Wolves surrounding this building. Things will get a lot bloodier if we have to chase you.”
Shit.If he was telling the truth, I wouldn’t be able to fight my way out. And he was blocking the only exit. Unless...
I glared at the hatch in the roof. It was little more than a window to let in light, but we could fit if I made the hole bigger. I had my knives, a few fireseeds, and the torch. I could make that work.
I sheathed my knife and dragged Brielle over to the towering shelves. I laced my fingers together, forming a foothold. “I’ll boost you up as high as I can, then?—”
She stepped away from me, shaking her head.
Something dark and frantic sank its claws into my chest. “Brielle, don’t?—”
Another crash echoed, making her wince. “I can’t run, Aiden.”
“Yes, you can,” I growled. “Even if I have to strap you to my back.”
She took another step backward, closer to the groaning door. “He knows about me. Which means Weylin knows. It’s over.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll hide you where he’ll never find you. I’ll get you out of Aquinon.”
She smiled sadly. “You can’t save me, Aiden, but I can still save you, as I should’ve done all those years ago.” She withdrew the gold-hilt sunstone knife Weylin had sunk into my father’s back. “Go. Before he sees you.”
Understanding sliced through my mind like lightning. I seized her knife hand, keeping the blade well away from her.
“Don’t do this,please.” My voice shook. “Don’t give up. If not for me, then for your children.”
All the color leached from her face, and she sagged in my grip. “I’m doing thisforthem. Weylin warned me, years ago, what he would do to them if I betrayed him. He... he had my daughter beaten in front of me just to prove his point. I can’t... Iwon’tbe the reason he hurts them.”
Another crash and the sound of wood splintering reverberated through the room. But my gaze never wavered from hers.
I was failing. Again. Someone else was going to die because of me. Again.
I gripped her hand tighter. “I’m not letting you go.”
Tears trembled in her blue eyes and tumbled down her cheeks. “They’ll torture me, Aiden. Then they’ll hurt my children. And I’ll tell them everything I know about you to keep that from happening.”
I drew in a ragged breath. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill them all for this.”
“I always told you it would be Weylin’s death or mine. I just never thought...” She closed her eyes as more tears fell between us. For a moment, her face crumpled with pain. “I should’ve said goodbye. My son. My daughters. I’ll miss the rest of their lives. I had so many things I wanted to do with them. So many words I’ll never get to say. Yet this is how it ends.”
The world felt muffled and hollow. As did my chest. My fingers grew numb around hers.
She slowly aimed the knife at her heart. The tip wavered, scraping her skin. Whether from my trembling or hers, I couldn’t tell.
“Please, Aiden,” she whispered. “Please. Help me.”
Her words clapped against my eardrums like thunder. I immediately resisted. The darkest request. An act that would stain my soul. Make my heart a stranger. I would never be free of this moment.
“It’s mercy, Aiden. Please. I can’t do it myself.”
Somewhere, in another world, glittering black knives, like the one I held with Brielle, stabbed through the door.
But I wouldn’t let them have her.
