“Yes. It’s an inevitable side effect of my?—”
“Were you ever going to tell me?” I demand roughly, crouching to yank Pierce out of the corpse. I angrily clean it on one of Parker’s sleeves, trying to ignore the sting in my eyes.
Crypt is dying, and he wasn’t going to fucking say anything.
He told me his curse differs from other curses because it can’t be broken. That means bonding with him won’t change this. Even if the Garnet Wizard manages to preserve my heart to keep all their other curses at bay, Crypt’s will still eat him alive.
I fucking hate the gods right now.
He crouches beside me, gently tipping my chin so I’ll have to look at him. Which is annoying because he’s gorgeous and mine anddying,and there is not one godsdamned thing I can do about it.
I despise feeling helpless, but especially when it comes to them.
“It is what it is, love,” he whispers, smiling wistfully. “I didn’t want to sully the precious time we have together. Besides, with all the world against us, there are far better things to spend such lovely tears on.”
“I’m not crying.”
Crypt reaches out to brush away a traitorous teardrop, pressing it to his lips for a taste. “All right. You’re not crying.”
“I’m mad at you.”
“I accept.”
Someone shouts in the distance. It’s Ross, and he’s running toward us. I look over my shoulder at my other matches. Silas is finishing healing his arm, Baelfire is frowning deeply at the ground, and Everett watches me with a soft sorrow in his pale blue gaze.
Ross grinds to a halt when he sees Parker’s dead body. “Oh, heavens. What happened?”
“We killed him,” I mutter, looking away in case he can tell I was just fighting tears.
“Yeah, but I mean, why...” He trails off, shaking himself. “Forgive me. You don’t answer to me—and besides, I believe I know why. Parker told me he would offer you up on a silver platter to the Legacy Council. When I tried to alert the Garnet Wizard, Parker got me with a paralysis hex, and…pleaseforgive me for not preventing this.”
The caster seems genuinely upset about this. Meanwhile, all four of my matches give him the evil eye. I have no idea why he’s so respectful to me, but I stand, sheathing my dagger on my arm strap again.
It’s good that he showed up right now. If I have to linger on Crypt’s predicament or the fact that I can’t think of a single fucking thing to do about it…
Something inside me cracks.
I lift my chin, forcing composure onto myself like a shield.
“Is that why you ran over here?”
“Oh—no, actually. I had no idea Parker was here. My mentor sent me to let you know he has something for you.”
The etherium must finally be here.
Good. More to focus on instead of the anger and helplessness.
I step around Ross to march toward the Garnet Wizard’s favorite study, not surprised when my matches follow. Given what just happened, it’s no surprise they refuse to let me go alone this time.
And honestly? I don’t want to go alone. I want them beside me.
Our quintet has always been on borrowed time, but I feel that truth like an anvil on my shoulders as we walk down one of the cobbled paths, the sky overhead the deep royal blue of a polar night.
As we walk, the final symptoms of the poisoning fade, ultimately useless against the tolerance I built up over the years. When we turn down a path near the brook, I decide it’s time to address that little incident back there.
“I can’t get pregnant,” I inform them quietly.
Everett gently takes one of my hands to slow my pace a bit. “You’re right, it would be the worst possible timing. So we’ll take all the right precautions?—”
