And as we tore down the long driveway, heading toward the final gate, I swore the world trembled, knowing Lucien Ashfall was moments away from freedom.
Chapter Eight
LUCIEN SUDDENLY SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES, SENDING us skidding.
The bike fishtailed violently as gravel screamed—the world lurching sideways with a spray of white stone. Up ahead, the final archway of the massive Cinderkeep estate loomed—impressive and imposing, yawning wide with freedom.
The rest of the world welcomed us.
No walls, no drones, no cages or pain.
It was close enough to taste.
So why is he stopping?!
He’d driven like a madman down the infernally long driveway, yet now on the cusp of escaping—
His weight pitched forward as he jammed his feet down, narrowly preventing us from falling. His chest jerked—his entire body trembling as an agonising grunt escaped him.
No, no, no, no...
“What’s happening?” I shook him. “Talk to me.”
Whisper streaked past in a black blur, skidding to a halt as Lucien folded over the handlebars, the bike tilting drunkenly.
The sprawling farms beyond, happy houses that belonged to other people, and quaint country roads mocked us. Memories of arriving at this entrance for a fictitious spa weekend crushed me. Of so many women who’d come to either bed or kill him.
“We need to keep going.” I squeezed him. “Right now, do you hear me?”
Whisper chirped as he headbutted Lucien’s knee, his eyes wide with worry, echoing my sentiments.
Lucien tried to raise his hand, his voice slurring, “I’m fine. I just...I just need a minute.”
But then, he coughed.
A wet, racking cough that sent him collapsing forward. His strength buckled and the heavy bike tilted, teetering on plummeting.
“Lucien?!”
He coughed again, spraying blood all over the speedometer.
“Lucien!”
“I’m okay...” He tried to sit upright, to follow through with yet another lie but—
We fell.
In slow motion but somehow far too fast, we tumbled to the gravel. Instinct had me curling up into a ball, drawing my legs up and away from the heavy machine as it crashed like a dead steed.
Whisper growled and ran around us, snapping at the bike as if wanting to disembowel it for hurting his master.
The breath knocked out of me as my shoulder crunched hard. Pain flared, but was quickly swallowed by the coldness of the pill still spreading through my insides.
Lucien didn’t even cry out as he smacked against the ground. His head struck the gravel, the bike pinning his left leg.
Raw panic tried to cut through the frost in my veins. My gaze shot toward escape that was so,soclose.
We can’t stop now.
