Page 433 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

The creature smiles.

‘Then we must be very brave now.’

‘I will. We will.’

‘Close your eyes.’

The sunlight fills his bones with strength.

His skin thickens, pulsing, healing.

The water is rising higher and higher and some alien instinct tugs hard inside Lachlan until he obeys and flexes his shoulder blades, powerful wind kicking up and dragging him out of the water, only it’s not the wind, it’s his wings, he has wings, he’s moving up, up and up, he’s…

He sees the body below.

Lachlan James Tanner is sinking into the water that surrounds him to bring him home.

God is water.

He watches from above until the body is gone, then Lachlan turns to face the rosy-red sunrise,

and he chooses to return,

whole.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

‘I won’t let you go,’ he promises, crying so hard he can barely speak. ‘I won’t, I won’t! I’ll follow you, I’ll find you, I’ll—!’

Lachlan kisses him and his knees give out.

They fall together, locked into the kiss.

There’s blood on his tongue.

He feels Lachlan’s body breaking beneath the skin. He hears the sick, wet crack of bones snapping and muscles tearing apart like leather yielding to tremendous force. Lachlan stills.

No breath. No kiss. No life.

Still and silent, heavy against him.

The rain falls around them like the sky is showing solidarity, crying for them both, for all that’s lost.

Kade grips him tight, won’t let go, he cannot let go.

He won’t.

A single second contains an eternity of pain, for losing what you love is agony, unbearable and bright and impossible to ignore and Kade does love this man, this murderer, this person who knew him, who knows so much about him and loves all he knows. Kade loves him.

Love has to be enough.

And if it’s not… then something else will suffice.

Every scrap of breath Kade has is pushing itself out of his lungs to make space for a scream to split the world clean open and show the path he’ll take, the drag marks he’ll find and follow, the trail to hunt.

But before he can take that new breath, Lachlan beats him to it.

He breathes.