My eyes flick down to Jace, who is pushing himself off the ground. He gives me a small nod.
“I came because he made a terrible choice trying to protect me in a way only he understands. And you're the reason he thought he had to. You did this. Not him.” My voice is surprisingly steady.
“How touching.” Gideon’s smile is thin. “A worthless girl defending her traitorous lover.” He steps closer to Jace, “You want to know the truth?” he murmurs. “This—” he gestures to Jace with the knife again,”—isn't new. This is who he hasalwaysbeen.”
His voice is cruel, dripping with loathing.
“A disappointment, a waste of legacy, of space. I trained him, built him. Shaped him like a sculptor creating a masterpiece. And still, he grew into nothing. A failed experiment. All that potential and he threw it away the moment you opened your whore legs. I told myself he'd wake up, that he'd finally understand what power requires. But instead? He chose you. A soft, weak, slut,” he sneers.
Jace bolts up with surprising speed from the ground, using the knife Gideon is holding to cut through his own restraints in one quick motion.
He hits the back of Gideon's knee, then drives him backward into the ground. Jace braces a knee to his chest and presses the blade Gideon dropped to his throat.
“Don't you dare talk about her like that.” His voice is feral.
Kellan and Felix quickly rush over to secure Gideon, and Luca helps Jace off of Gideon.
“You're quick even while bleeding out.” Luca claps a hand on his shoulder.
Jace winces.
“Oh, sorry,” Luca says quickly.
Jace turns to look at me as I walk up to him.
“Are you okay?” I feel dumb asking the question. Of course, he's not okay.
“Just a couple of cuts and bruises, nothing that won’t heal.” Jace forces a smile on his swollen face.
“We've got Jace and Gideon, leaving now,” Luca says into the comms.
“Yes, please, let's get out of here.” I agree. I’ve only taken a couple of steps when Jace lets out a strangled, ragged gasp. A heavy thud and the metallic clatter of the knife dropping.
I whip around to find Jace on the ground, a horrible wet hitch in his breathing, a rattling, bubbling, choke escaping him.
“Jace!” I yell and before I can move, Luca is rushing back over to his side.
“What's going on?”
Luca checks over him, patting him gently.
“It must have been a rib or something. When he used that last burst of adrenaline, he might've seriously damaged something but his body didn’t recognize it yet.”
Then Jace lets out a weak, broken exhale, thin, and painful. It cuts off halfway through, then nothing.
“Jace!” I call as his eyes roll back into his head.
34 LACTOSE INTOLERANT
“Isobel?” Jace's voice had my head snapping up. The one eye that isn't swollen shut is blinking, like he’s trying to force clarity back into his vision
“I'm here.” I move into his line of sight. “Do you need water?”
“Please.”
I grab the cup the nurse left and guide the straw to his lips.
“Thank you.” He rests his head back against the pillows.
