I staggered as my body finally caught the memo that it’d been stabbed.
The odd numbness vanished and...PAIN.
Ridiculous, breath-stealing pain.
The agony was obscene. Unique and deep and hot but...I laughed.
I laughed like a madman as I looked down at the dagger embedded inside me—the key to my freedom. The key I hadn’t been able to turn on my own. “You know—” I jerked as the vitalsync core reacted to my skipping, tripping pulse, dosing my system with fresh fire. “I’ve tried to do that for two decades.”
I looked up, caught her eyes, and bowed my head in utmost gratitude. “Thank you.”
Rook choked on a sob as she swayed, the familiar signs of her condition trying to steal her from me.
Stumbling forward, I cupped her cheeks.
The second I touched her, she started to cry.
She clung to my wrists, clutching at my silver cuffs, mumbling and quaking.
Another punch of agony ripped through me.
The guards continued their mania in the background.
But no one fired because they thought she was pregnant.
No one tried to snatch her off me because if I was dying, she became absolutely vital.
Pain continued to build and burn, but I dragged her into me. Running my thumbs under her wet eyes, I kissed her forehead in utmost fucking gratitude. It flooded me like the hottest wave, fierce and unbearable, burning hotter than the pain.
Finally.
Fuckingfinally.
She’d given me such mercy, such a gift—
She seized in my hold.
Her eyes rolled back.
She fainted.
I had no strength to hold her up.
I fell with her.
We tumbled together like two useless creatures who’d reached their limit.
The impact jarred the knife—
Pain surged so violently, my vision exploded with colourful static.
I twitched beneath Rook as she landed half on top of me. Her cheek rested on my lower belly; her hair spread over my chest, sticking to the blood seeping through my shirt.
Whisper howled, prowling tight, frantic circles around us, snarling and snapping at any guard who tried to come close. He roared again, deep and thunderous—warning the guards to back the fuck up.
The men wisely backed the fuck up.
The world narrowed to nothing more than pain and rain and the girl breathing weakly against my stomach.
