I cry and exhale at the same time. Even though my fingers are sewn back on, they don’t feel like mine at all. They are someone else’s. Foreign objects attached to me.
“Wait for what?” Jack asks.
“If they get darker. Blue or black. We failed. They weren’t attached properly, and they will decay. But if they turn pink, there is blood flow.”
I grind my teeth back and forth.
What the fuck is the point? She’s gone. Sapphire is fucking gone. And I am still here.
“Oh! Look! Pink!” Jack exclaims, throwing back his head to laugh. “That’s pink, right?”
“Yes!” Sophia claps her hands. “Oh, thank God!”
I don’t bother looking.
“Niklaus. It’s done. We saved the two fingers!”
The ceiling swims in warm, devastated water as my eyes grow hot and burn.
“Which one is gone?” I whisper.
Jack drops to a knee so he can answer. “The ring finger.”
I feel broken and obliterated.
“At least you weren’t wearing your wedding ring.”
The tears spill over.
“Right.”
This has to be a nightmare.
“We’re going to find your wife, friend.” Jack pats me on the shoulder.
No, you won’t.
Sapphire is gone.
And I am never going home.
61. Time Consequences
Niles
Twenty-One Years in The Past
Timeline: Weeks before the Dralutheran War
“Dessin would be so proudof me, honestly,” I tell Renly.
“Uh-huh!”
Dessin would have rather been baptized in bleach than admit that to me out loud. Though it’s definitely true. Renly and I have mapped out the exits, the guard schedules, and the societal timing of when villagers are out and about. I forgot they have a curfew, so the streets are empty after dusk.
Our best chance at getting Renly home is on Sunday morning—three days from now. The next public execution. The plan has been combed through thoroughly at all hours of the night when I should be sleeping. And it’s Dessin-approved. Maybe. Probably.
Renly gasps. “Mr. Niles!”
