“How?” Thorne asks, and Walker keeps his gaze fixed on me as he replies.
“Grab her and offer her as a trade-off. As we swap, you kill me.”
My pulse thunders in my ears as I take in his words and what he's actually asking.
Do I hate him right now? Absolutely.
Has he broken all trust for all of eternity? Absolutely.
Does he deserve to die because of me?
My world slows as I take in that weighted question.
I'm standing here because of him.
This all began because ofhim.
My life was ripped away because. Of. Him.
But if it wasn't forhim, I wouldn't know Kael, or Thorne, or Rion, and I definitely wouldn’t know Ocean.
I wouldn't know that my life was a lie, that my parents weren't my parents. I wouldn't know that I am a scythe. As much as he’s brought destruction, destroying every fiber of my prior life, he's also blessed me with the happiest times I've ever had.
He deserves to pay for what he did, but his life is not the trade off.
“Now, Elodie,” he commands, his voice ripping through my soul as he charges at me. I act on instinct to protect myself.
At the same time, he shoves Ocean to the side, letting my palms connect with his chest. A scream rips from me as I try to yank my arms back, but it's futile. They're locked in.
I watch the life drain from his eyes as he sinks to his knees, and I follow him with a heavy heart thundering in my chest. His lips part, a raspy string of words slipping on a breath before he slumps.
“Your mother was forged in ruin too.”
Our touch disconnects, and I don't need clarification on what I can already sense.
He just sacrificed himself for me, and I have to make sure that it wasn't all for nothing.
Snapping my gaze to my left, I look just in time to see a portal appear and Jude's snarling face take astep away, disappearing from view, retreating, just as Walker said he would.
So why do I feel even farther from the finish line?
25
ELODIE
Exhaustion clings to every fiber of my being, but I race up the stairs, using all of my energy to put one foot in front of the other as Thorne remains a few steps behind, infusing his magic into the door to protect us from the other institutes.
We technically passed the game, but The Sanctum is nowhere nearby to confirm if we made it through to the final round. At this stage, does it even matter?
Toman is dead, so is Walker, while Jude has made a run for it.
The entire place is carnage, nothing but rain clouds and despair. There’s no sanctuary here now. There’s only pain and terror, but the question is… atwhose hands? Jude or The Sanctum, the options are open for anyone.
The games may be complete, and Jude may have retreated, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe. As much as we’re all here, it’s not without loss. More than that, we have no clue about Kael.
My stomach feels heavy at that fact, especially since he didn’t show up with Jude as I had hoped.
Every plan we make, every step we map out, brings us to another dead end. It feels impossible to cling to hope.
