I’d relished that someone like Lucien Ashfall—who prided himself on hating everyone and everything—needed me.
Useless stress-phobicme.
To ease his pain.
To give him pleasure.
To share my company and just talk to him...
But this?
Murderinghim?
Not possible.
Utterlyimpossible.
I fought him. “Let me go.”
“I’m not asking, Rook.”
“And I’m not doing it,Lucien.”
“Don’t you get it? I only have one shot. Just one!” His snarl vibrated through my bones, making me ache from head to toe. “And I’m not going to fail.”
“I’ll do whatever you need, but I can’t—”
“Stab me. Before they come.” His fingers dug into my shoulders like pincers. “Stab me, Rook.Do it.”
My name. He hardly ever said my name.
Now he’d said it twice in succession.
It made my heart skip a million beats and feelings to surge that had absolutely no business surging.
The drones suddenly abandoned us, shooting back over the wall as the rain became heavier, drenching us with wet splashes.
Without the drones recording us, I shouted, “You can command me all you want. I will literally do anything else you ask, but I won’t hurt you. I refuse.”
“Don’t you want revenge on me keeping you here?” He gripped me agonisingly hard, his face going black. “Aren’t you furious?”
“What?” My eyes widened. “Why would I—?”
“Don’t you hate me for taking you away from your life?”
“Yes. I mean no.” I scowled. “I mean...it’s not you who did this to me.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m the reason you’re here. I’m the reason you can’t leave.”
“You’re the reason I’m stillalive. You’ve saved me from the others. You’ve given me your blood—”
“Purely to keep you alive for this. I needed you well enough—obedient enough—to kill me.”
My heart quit beating. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do. You’re the key. My one chance. I’ve been using you this entire time—”
“No, you haven’t.” I shook my head, clinging to all those moments where our lives had woven together. All those seconds where we’d fallen into something against our wishes but something that was real and true and—
