The prince tries to sit up and fails. He falls back against the wall with a grunt of pain.
"You died right in front of me. Your heart stopped twice. Do you have any idea what that was like? Watching them break you piece by piece and knowing it was because of me?"
Silence falls between them like a chasm.
Something soft flickers in Vayne's amber eyes. "I thought... if I could just keep you safe—“
"I was never yours to keep," Blaire hisses.
I should leave. This is too private for witnesses. But we don't have time for privacy. The sound of hunting horns is already echoing through the fortress above us.
"We need to go," I say softly. "All of us."
Blaire looks up at me and I see something fierce and fragile in her eyes.Vayne can't walk.
Then we carry him,I think at her, making sure every word is distinct.
She stares at me. "You'd do that? For him?"
The suppression runes carved into these walls should have stripped her of all power. But Blaire's mind-reading ability remains unbroken.
If he matters to you, then he matters to me.I let the thought settle between us, simple and honest.
"He doesn't matter to me," Blaire says coldly, her voice cutting through the chamber like a blade.
"You cared. I saw it," Vayne mutters from the floor, oblivious to our silent exchange. The Prince of Myrkheim is delirious and in pain. He tries to reach for her again, his bloodied hand trembling as it rises toward her face.
She stares down at him for a long moment. For a moment I think she might let him touch her. But she draws back her hand and slaps him across the face with every ounce of strength she has left.
The sound echoes through the cell.
Vayne blinks in confusion, one massive hand rising slowly to his jaw. He looks up at her. For a suspended second, neither of them moves.
“Forgive me,” he starts. “I wasn’t—”
Blaire pushes herself to her feet, legs shaking beneath her. She crosses the chamber one unsteady step at a time and stops at the threshold. There she turns and meets his gaze.
"I want a divorce," she declares coldly.
Then she's gone, leaving both Prince Vayne and me staring after her in stunned silence.
I look down at the orc prince, whose amber eyes now hold pain and confusion. Despite everything, I feel a stab of pity for him.
I pull a silver dagger from my boot and press it into his massive hand. "Take this. Find another way out of here. The passages beneath the fortress should lead to the old mining tunnels."
He closes his fingers around the weapon but doesn't take his eyes off the empty doorway where Blaire disappeared. "Why are you helping me?"
Because anyone brave enough to marry Blaire deserves respect. Or possibly a medal for surviving this long.
I offer no reply and leave him there, weapon in hand, still working out what just happened.
I catch up with Blaire in the corridor outside the chamber. She's leaning against the wall with one hand pressed to her side, breathing hard. The benevolent Anastarros have healed some of her external injuries, but I wish I had more time to fully mend them all. Her breathing is labored from exhaustion and pain.
"Climb on," I tell her gently, turning around and crouching down.
"I'm fine," she protests, but her legs are trembling with the effort of staying upright.
"You're not," I counter, moving closer.
