“Of course I came,” he said fiercely. Then quieter, raw: “I’m sorry it took me so long.”
A sob tore from her. “You’re here, that’s all that matters. He–he told me you were d–dead.”
Sebastian tilted her chin, and looked her in the eye. “Not yet. But we need to get out of here. Now.”
She nodded mutely as he took her wrists gently in his hands. He pulled out the dagger again, and started to cut through the nightshade cords. Freeing her. She’d been here before, Gods, little more than a week ago. But then it had been his wrists bound in nightshade, her fingers shaking to undo them.
“This shouldn’t have happened to you,” he muttered hoarsely.
She watched him. Unmoving. Barely breathing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face. The man who had taken root in her mind and never left. Whom just the thought of had kept her sane in this hell. Theman who had saved her from... what Cade was about to do. Her throat physically ached with the force of it all.
We might not make it out of here alive.
It’s now or never.
“I love you,” she blurted, before she could second-guess herself.
His hands stilled. His head jerked up, expression stunned, as if the words had struck harder than any blade.
“I know it’s soon,” she went on, voice shaking. “The wrong time – madness really – but I don’t want to die here without saying it–”
“You’re not dying here,” he growled.
With a grunt, he cut through the last of the bindings. The blood rushed back to her hands for the first time in days. She didn’t look down at them – didn’t care – just used them to grab his with everything she had left.
“I love you, Sebastian Thorne.”
He stared at her – bloodied, breathless and disbelieving.
“You... can’t mean that.”
“I do,” she said. She had never been surer of anything in her life.
“We need to run,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. “Tell me again when we get out of here–”
His eyes met hers, blazing.
“–and then I’ll believe you.”
Sebastian’s grip tightened around her hand as they ran.
She loves me?
He had never expected her to say that.
Not now. Focus.
You’ve got to get her out.
He pulled her through the shadowed hallways. Careful and quiet. Trying to focus on the escape. But the echo of her cries – the panic in her voice, Cade’s fucking hands on her – wouldn’t leave his mind. Seconds later and he’d have been too late–
His jaw clenched as rage surged through him. Hot. Familiar. His magic crackled beneath his skin – begging for release. He wanted to rip Cade apart. Kill him again. He forced it under control.
Keep moving.
He looked back at her. She was breathing hard but still moving fast – keeping up. She didn’t say a word. What else had that bastard done to her? He wanted to ask. Heneededto ask. The questions clawed at him, but freedom came first.
“This way–” He pulled her left.
