And the bullet went all the way through.
‘Roman,’ Lachlan utters softly.‘Ana.No, no, no,’
Roman collapses back just as Lachlan moves in to see the clean hole in her chest leading straight into Roman’s own, dead centre.
The boy holds fast to her even while dying.
And heisdying.
They both are.
Lachlan knows it because that kind of shot is fatal.
Blood in his mouth, Roman’s lashes flutter, movements jerky, confused.
‘I’m… I’m sorry,’ Roman says, frowning a little.
Lachlan touches his face, can’t think straight.
He hasn’tfeltthe weight of deaths in so long now.
Maybe not ever.
Not like this.
‘Ro,’ he hears himself say, wrecked and useless.
Roman swallows thickly, final breaths frantic and agonising.
He manages a weak smile.‘I w-wassobrave, wasn’t I?’
Lachlan nods, tears spilling.
‘You are.’Grief breaks his heart the way only earthquakes can.He strokes Roman’s hair, Savannah’s too, but she can’t talk, is barely moving.‘You’re really brave.We’re going home now.Everything’s OK.’
Savannah chokes on blood and, distantly, Lachlan hears someone else coughing.Maybe Ariadne.He doesn’t care.
Roman’s eyes glaze over.
He’s going.
OhGod,he’s going away and Lachlan should say a million things, should save him, shouldtrysomething, anything, but nothing will work.
Roman is dying in front of him.
‘You are… b-brave, too, Lock.’
Lachlan has never watched someone he loved die before, and he didn’t realise until now that he loves this kid… and he never told him.
‘Roman.’
But Roman Sorrenko is gone.
Gone away, gone elsewhere.
Gone to be with angels if there are any.
Jules tries to shake him awake, crying, saying Roman’s name, but Lachlan knows he’s gone, Savannah too, there’s no way she could survive—
