How could he betray us?
My heart stopped.Has he betrayed us or did he make another oath to Kes and Jethro I’m not aware of?
Vexatious questions came faster, battering me with final worry. Was Kestrel awake? Was he alive in the hospital waiting for his brother to visit?
I wish I could say goodbye to him.
My tummy clenched even as I tried to remain strong.
I wish I could kiss Jethro one last time.
Cut spun around, forcing me to do the same. Flaw and Jasmine’s eyes seared brands into the back of my spine. Two brothers dashed forward, gripping the ends of the black sheet hiding the apparatus, looking at Cut for commands.
He snapped his fingers with regality. “Remove it!”
Their hands gathered swaths of material and tugged. The fabric slid like ebony silk, kissing angles and gliding over surfaces, slowly revealing what I’d known existed all along.
The method of my death.
The equipment I’d hoped never to see.
There was no Jethro to stop it.
No Kestrel to fix it.
No Jasmine to ruin it.
Only me, Cut, and the awful gleaming guillotine.
The lights from the chandeliers bounced off the glossy wood of the frame, suspending a single blade ensconced in two pillars of wood. A latch at the top held it in place while the rope dangled down the side, ready to pull aside the barrier and let the blade plummet to its task.
And there...below the chopping block where my head would lay was the basket that would be my final resting place.
Cut kissed my cheek, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and guiding me toward the machine. “Say goodbye, Nila. It’s time to pay the Final Debt.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jethro
I’D BEEN AWAKE for centuries.
I’d travelled thousands of miles. I’d fought hundreds of battles. I’d lived a million lives in a matter of days.
My brain gasped for rest. My eyes screamed for sleep. But my heart pushed relentlessly toward the end.
“Stop here.”
The taxi driver did as I asked, pulling to a halt beside a grass verge a few metres away from the entrance to Hawksridge. As soon as we’d landed, I’d paid the crew for their fast service and hopped into a taxi.
The flight had gone as planned. Once I’d made phone calls for Tex to gather his enforcements, Flaw to sort out the brothers, and Kill to hide on the grounds and watch from a distance, I’d focused on ensuring my body would continue to obey me and the strength I’d need for the future tasks wouldn’t fail.
I’d eaten and tended to my wounds in the airplane bathroom. I’d patched up my gunshot wound as best I could and added a Band-Aid to the cut on my forehead. I asked the flight crew to give me the first-aid kit and took what pills I could to lower my incessant fever and subdue the aches and pains I didn’t have time to deal with.
When we finally traded air for earth, I wasn’t recharged or ready for carnage, but I was better than I’d been a few hours ago.
I had enough energy to finish this...and then...then I would sleep for a fucking eternity and let others worry about the world for a change.
Nila, I’m coming.
