Fuck.
“Beatrice Pollack,” I call, but she doesn't budge.
Even from here I can see her frail state. Her face is gaunt, her body an awkward shade of gray, but I can hear her heart racing so I know she’s not quite dead… yet.
With a deep breath, I trudge toward her, filtering my way through the sea of subordinates before crouching down beside her. The second I do, I sense Jenkins looking at me, but I pretend he doesn't exist as I shake at her shoulder. To my dismay, she does little more than flutter her eyelashes, hellbent on sleeping.
A fact I wish I could say for myself too, but alas, there really is no rest for the wicked.
I’m yanked from my jealous thoughts as a hand lands on my arm, and it's not from her. My attention snaps to Jenkins and I can’t hide the grimace that shudders down my spine. He doesn't look much better than the girl in front of me.
His lips are dry and cracked as he speaks. “Kill me.” I frown at him, certain those two words did not just come from his mouth. “Kill me. Please, Kael,” he rasps, confirming it, and I shake my head, turning away as I pretend I can't hear him, focused on trying to wake the girl, but he doesn’t relent.
“Kael, please,” he begs, his voice little more than a whimper, one of lost hope and failed dreams.
I can't handle it.
Instincts take over and I grab the girl, launching her over my shoulder as I rise to my feet.
“Please, Kael,” Jenkins repeats, louder this time, using all of his strength, and I know we've got the attention of other people in the room.
I can’t let the façade of being Jude’s brother fall. Grabbing the scruff of his neck, I yank him toward me, startled by how weightless he feels as I bring my lips to his ear.
“There is no killing you, Jenkins. There is only saving you. Have patience,” I whisper before dropping him to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
I turn away before I can let the horror take hold and grimace. In doing so, my gaze lands across the room on the one person I wish I didn't have to see.
He's not alone. Elodie’s mother sits beside him with a hint of concern in her gaze, but it’s Odie’s black eye that burns what remains of my soul.
His gaze locks on mine and he tilts his chin, an air of understanding flickering from across the room. I'm not entirely sure I know what it means, but all he does is settle one notion inside of me that I refuse to deny.
I nod back. A promise, wordless, but still wrought with meaning.
I vow to save him, her, all of them, if it's the last thing I do.
16
RION
Fear clings to me as I wait, perched at the side of the water. Whatever the fancy name was that Ocean gave it earlier is gone from my mind. It’s filled with numbers as I count the seconds, each one seeming to push me farther away from Elodie instead of bringing us closer.
It’s a fickle emotion, fear. One I don’t care for. But as I sit here allowing time to pass, it weighs heavily on my chest. It’s like a loaded cannon ready to take aim, the fuse slowly fizzling before it's ready to explode, except the only target in sight is me.
Taking a chance, I peer over my shoulder. I don't like the look on Thorne’s face, but it's Ocean's worrying eyebrows that finish me off as I glance at her too.
“We need to get in there. Now,” I grunt, and Thorne shakes his head.
“Give her time, Rion. She can do this,” he insists as I grind my molars together.
“Are you forgetting the part where she said she can't swim?”
“Are you forgetting the part where Ocean used her magic to help her?” he retorts, pissing me off as I snap my gaze back to the girl in question.
“Did that thing come with an expiration date?” I grunt, and Ocean rubs her lips together nervously.
“I’m not sure,” she admits, and I feel the fuse burn that much closer.
“I’m done.” Standing, I tilt over the edge of the water, ready to plunge into the darkness as I silently berate myself. I should have gone with her to begin with, but Thorne's magical idea about letting her be independent and do this on her own stopped me.
