He actually thought she’d been brilliant, not to mention brave. Any of his family would have sold him out to Vann Jeger in a heartbeat, but Marci had protected him, even tried to con an ancient spirit while he’d had a sword at herneck. Julius didn’t have words for what that kind of loyalty meant to him, and he wasn’t about to waste a second of the time she’d bought second-guessing how she might have done it better. But while he was ready to get to work, Marci looked like she’d already given up.
“The curse can’t be broken,” she said bitterly. “Or, at least, I’ve never heard of anyone breaking a Sword of Damocles, and I don’t want to gamble your life on my being the first.” She shook her head with a bitter sigh. “You need to leave.”
Julius shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“This isn’t open to discussion,” she said firmly. “I screwed up, okay? I know that, but there’s no reason both of us should have to pay for my mistakes.”
“Yourmistakes?” he cried. “Marci, you were captured by adragon hunter. Last I checked, you aren’t a dragon. How can this possibly be your fault?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, banishing his words with an angry stab of her hand. “And we’re wasting time arguing. I already wasted too much ditching my car.”
“Your car?” he said, confused. “So that truck outside isn’t an illusion?”
“My sedan was too compromised,” she explained quickly. “Same for my phone and bag and everything else. If I didn’t want to lead Vann Jeger right back here, my only option was to dump everything. I couldn’t replace my phone, obviously, but I stole a new ride—”
He gasped. “Youstolea car?”
“That’swhat you’re upset about?” she cried. “Like Grand Theft Auto matters next to the freakingmurder charge!”
“Sorry,” he said with a wince. “You’re right. I was just surprised.”
“Well, fat lot of good it did in the end,” she grumbled. “I might have stopped Vann Jeger from following me home, but you and your brother still need to leave. Right now.”
“No.” Julius said.
Marci scowled. “But—”
“No,” he said again. “No buts. I don’t care what’s happening, I amnevergoing to run away and leave you to die.Ever. Under any circumstances.”
He kept his voice calm and firm, trying his best to prove to her that he was deadly seriously about this. Rather than looking reassured, though, Marci looked more upset than ever. “Can’t you stop it for one second?”
Julius frowned. “Stop what?”
She looked down at the ground. “Being so nice.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but Marci wouldn’t even look at him.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to accept this?” she said quietly. “It’s not like I want to die, but unless I can figure out how to break an unbreakable curse in the next few hours, it’s a done deal. Those aren’t odds I’d bet my own life on, and I’m definitely not betting yours. You’re the only reason I have a life to lose to begin with. If you hadn’t saved me last month, I’d be a trophy on Bixby’s wall.”
“That’s not true,” he said quickly. “I—”
“Itistrue,” she said stubbornly. “I’d made peace with the fact that it was time for me to return the favor, but now you’re here being understanding and saying we can make it and getting my hopes up and…” She cut off with a ragged breath. “It’s not fair, Julius! I’m trying do the right thing here and take responsibility for my mistakes, and you’re making itharder.”
“Good!” he cried angrily. “It should beimpossible.”
She glowered and opened her mouth to argue, but Julius didn’t give her a chance. “I don’t want you to be responsible and do the right thing. I want you tostay alive.I don’t even care why any of this happened. All that matters to me is how we’re going to get out of it, thebothof us. Because I’m never going to leave you to deal with something like this on your own. Not to save my life. Not for any reason. Okay?”
He set his jaw as he finished, ready to take on her next argument the moment it came, but Marci just sighed. “Okay.”
Julius blinked in surprise. “Really?”
She nodded, cheeks flushing. “I know I should put up more of a fight after all that, but…Ireallydon’t want to die.”
“That makes two of us,” he said, smiling as he helped her up. “Honestly, though, I’m still getting over the relief of having you home in one piece.”
Her eyes went wide. “You were worried about me?”
“OfcourseI worried about you,” he said, confused how this could even be a question. “I…”
