Every step, I couldn’t stop the remembrance of Daniel’s heart giving way to my needle point. Every breath, I couldn’t stop reliving the final moments of victory, followed by a canyon of regret.
I’d killed someone.
I’ve murdered.
I no longer had the right to heaven or angels or eternal paradise. In order to win against the devils, I’d had to become one. Before, I was willing to make that sacrifice, but now...now I knew what a weight it was to value my life above another’s. And I wasn’t so sure. Did I have the right? Did anyone—regardless of circumstance?
I kept seeing the trickle of blood, oozing and pooling on the floor—unwilling to leave its host, copper and crimson...slowly turning to unwanted rust.
Dirt to dirt.
Ashes to ashes.
Daniel had been raised with diamond spoons and diamond toys. Would his body eventually fuse with the earth, transforming from bone and becoming the sparkling gemstones his family coveted?
Reborn.
Into the one thing his family treasured the most.
Was that karma?
Or serendipitous endings?
Stop it.
You heard what Daniel said. He would’ve raped me until death.
If I had died, he wouldn’t be moping about mourning my loss or regretting his decision.
Straightening my shoulders, I stopped thinking about the murder and dealt with the aftermath.
Jethro moved silently and stealthily. I refused to look at Daniel’s sheet-wrapped body. A bloom of blood was the only sign that beneath the burden existed something sinister.
“Jethro...” I whispered, cursing the remnants of the drug-liquor still hammering my heartbeat. My orgasm had been blistering and explosive, but it hadn’t nullified the urge entirely.
He looked up, stepping through the fence opening, leaving the encampment for the free world. “What?”
“I—I—” I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I’d apologised for killing his brother. I’d let him console me when really I should console him for losing yet another member of his family.
He hasn’t lost Kes...not yet.
I felt responsible. I should be the one to destroy the evidence, not him.
“I want you to go. If Cut—”
His teeth bared. “Don’tbring that up again. I’m. Not. Leaving. I don’t fucking care if he sees me. I’m here for good. I’m with youfor good. Got it?”
His gaze entrapped me; I sucked in a breath. The magical question he’d asked filled my mind.
Marry me.
Marry me.
Marry him?
I’d said yes, but nerves tap-danced on my ribcage. I wanted him as mine more than anything, but there was so much we had to defeat before we were free.
Looking over my shoulder, fear tiptoed through my shadow, terrified Cut would find us.
