“Why?”
“Because I don’t have any,” I whispered.
His palm flattened against my chest, and my heart tried to escape, to find its way into that hand and hide from the aftermath of what I’d just done.
“I know,” Darcke replied, his other hand finding the back of my neck.
“Youknow?” I echoed.
“I just needed you to say it.”
My lips parted. “Why?”
“So that you’d see that you and I… we’re not so different after all.” Darcke pulled me to him, lifting my hand and placing it over the scarred rune on his own chest. “That we’re doing what we’re doing because we have to, and not because we want to.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, even as the understanding that had begun to mount within me continued to spread, things I’d wanted to pretend weren’t true forcing their way into my mind.
I felt his smile in the darkness. “You’re clever, heir. I have no doubt that youwill figure it out.”
“Are… are you still alive?” Ottoh’s panting made my fingers twitch.
“Yes,” I got out. “We’re getting you out.”
“G-good, th-that’s… g-good.” Ottoh sounded as if he was drifting off, and fear crushed my heart like a fist.
“You have to help me,” I whispered to Darcke. “I can’t… I can’t do this alone.”
“I will,” he said. “As long as you answer my call when I need it.”
“I promise,” I replied, and his lips hiked higher.
Darcke’s resolve was a warm drink on a cold day, and even though neither of us could see anything, when he found a boulder, searching it to ensure it wouldn’t cause others to fall, I knew where to place my hands so that we could remove it together.
We worked in silence, taking care to ensure each stone fit somewhere in the cave where it wouldn’t disturb the other rubble caging us in like walls. Sweat streamed down my back by the time Ottoh’s and Vero’s breaths sounded louder, their presences growing stronger in the dark.
“Are you okay?” I asked as Darcke moved another large stone.
“G-great,” Vero got out.
Fuck, she didn’t sound good at all, and the way she and Ottoh struggled for breath made my own come more panicked. Darcke’s gaze was on me as I closed my eyes, begging to whoever was listening to get us out of there.
Finally something lighter split the dark, although it took several long minutes to finally get all the rocks off the Briggen siblings. Darcke lifted Ottoh’s body off his sister, and when he cautiously set him down, I dropped to my knees beside the heir.
Ottoh’s chest rose and fell slowly—too fucking slowly. I felt for his pulse, and though it was there, it was weak, barely fluttering when I pressed two fingers against his neck.
“Is he alive?” Darcke asked as he helped Vero to her feet.
“He needs air,” I said as my own throat tightened. “We… we all do.”
“Where is the exit?” Vero asked, fear making her voice high pitched. “I need to get him out! He tried… he tried to save me. The stones were so heavy, and I couldn’t do anything.”
“Over there.” I gestured even though she wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark.
Vero fell into me as she got onto all fours, leaning over her brother’s body as if to listen to every struggling breath going through him. “Y-you get us out. I’ll stay with him.”
“I—”
Tears sprung in my eyes as I felt Vero’s hope, her conviction that I could do this.
