“I’m not saying you haven’t saved us,” he says. “I’m saying you shouldn’t have to die for him again. Not even once more.”
“I don’t have the luxury of walking away from this,” I snap. “And neither do you, by the way, because if I don’t deal with the next wraith coming, Death will come for you. He will annihilate you.”
His mouth hardens. “Then let him.”
For a second, I think I misheard him. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do. I’d rather it tear us apart than watch it break you piece by piece while that fucker sits back and calls it even.”
There’s no heat in his voice now. Just something raw, stripped down to bone. It makes me want to step closer and back away at the same time.
And that’s when Nathaniel walks back in, a fresh bruise blooming along his jaw and a look in his eyes that says he’s been listening for longer than I realized.
“Sorry to break it to you, Cass,” he says, gaze flicking between us, “but this might be beyond our reach anyway.” He touches his jaw, licks his lips, and drops onto the couch beside us. “I hate it as much as you do, but Death is literally above our level.”
Cassian doesn’t look at him. Doesn’t even blink.
Nathaniel’s gaze lingers on me.
“That said,” he adds, “I agree with Cassian. The whole system’s fucked. Initially, our goal was to punish the sinners the way they should be. But maybe we should set our sights on fixing the damn thing.”
Cassian finally lifts his head. Slow, like it costs him something.
“You think?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nathaniel waves a hand. “I know you said it before.”
I look between the two of them.
“He did?”
“Yeah.” Nathaniel stretches out, crossing his ankles. “Cass has been grumbling about burning the whole deck down since the day I suggested binding a Grim Reaper. Never sat right with him anyway. He just never said it in front of you.”
My eyebrows pull together. I’d always thought, in the early days, that Cassian saw me as a thing rather than a person. I never imagined it wouldn’t sit right with him to bind me to the three of them and use me to achieve their goals.
But fuck. Turns out Cassian was more noble than I ever gave him credit for.
His methods are brutal, but he’s still been drawing a line somewhere, and apparently, that line included me.
Well, honestly, it’s messing with my brain.
I let out a slow breath.
Then I glance at the bruise on Nathaniel’s jaw.
“What happened to you?”
Nathaniel’s fingers pause there.
“Talon.”
I blink. “Talon hit you?”
“I guess I was asking for it.”
Cassian finally looks up. “Why?”
“He didn’t explain.” Nathaniel leans back, resting one ankle over his knee. “But if I had to guess, he didn’t like what I said about his little outburst.”
