Luke watched him, expression a mess of conflicting emotions.
“Call for help,” Kira said. “There's no more time.”
Luke shook his head and added his own pack beneath Zayne to lift him higher. Breathing was still hard, but that helped.
“I don't want to see what the Phaedra will do to him.” Wild terror danced in Luke's eyes. “I won't let him. Zayne would rather die. This is the only way.”
Zayne understood. He understood, and that might have been the saddest part. “If I see Mom…” He fought for a full breath, wheezing between words. “I'll tell her… you love her…”
Luke looked away, gripping his pant leg. “Don't tell her what I've done. I don't want her to suffer.”
“I won't...”
“Stop it.” Kira bowed forward. “Both of you stop.”
“Kira. This isn't your fault… I'd have done it… even if you said no…” Zayne turned his face against her hand, body relaxing. “Stay alive… Don't… break…”
She dipped until the bloodied tips of her hair tickled the side of his face. “I'm not letting you die. I won't say goodbye.”
“You… mean…” His teeth chattered so badly he worried she couldn't understand him. “Everything…”
The pain in her voice crushed him. “I want to see you free. I want to see you alive for the first time in your life. You can't die.”
“I… am… free…” He wasn't sure if he'd actually said it, but he tried.
“You're a good man, Zayne. You deserve happiness.” She kissed his face. “Meeting you is the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
How? Look at all the horrors they'd faced.
She said more to him, but his mind was drifting. Her mouth moved while the words were lost to a void. Zayne looked at her as long as he could before darkness ate every bit of her, and he could only cling to her nearness.
There wasn't anything left to give, but he let her have it, parting his lips to utter all that filled him. But he couldn't even speak. Didn't even know the words for this. Just opened himself up to her and let her have it all.
And then he wasn’t cold anymore.
He didn’t hurt anymore.
This day, the past, his hopes—they wound together.
Warmth enveloped him, thick warmth like fresh blood. Zayne sank into it, and it carried him away from everything he’d tried so hard to cling to. It carried him, and to where he couldn’t know.
It eased all the pain.
The noises tried to follow him. The crying, the shouting, the pleading. The wrestling and the wind in the leaves. He couldn’t hold onto it anymore. But even when he let go, he felt Kira with him. Felt her until he felt nothing at all.
No more running.
Warmth and Kira.
Warmth he wanted so badly to give in to.
Kissing his skin.
Flooding him.
Deeper and deeper toward the center of his being.
Kira. Burning at his core.
