I frown. “You’re not going anywhere.”
For some reason, she cries harder. Her body jerks, and she coughs—deep, wet barks that make my binds chew.
She comes up for tired, gurgled breaths. “But it— Ithurts…”
Those words crackle through my splitting heart.
My beast swipes at my ribs as fat tears slip down her cheeks. “I … I want the hurt to end, Rhordyn.Please.”
Please?
“I … want to spend my last breath kissing you.”
My heart stops.
She’s passing me goodbye notes like she thinks I’m going to put a fucking sword through her chest and end her suffering.
The realization sinks its teeth into the obsidian vault stashed beside her dimming seed. A chest stacked full of wounds that will never heal—too painful to even think about.
As soon as this moment ends, I’ll stuff this one in there, too.
“Okay, Milaje.” I press the whisper of a kiss to her head, vibrating with self-hate. “I’m going to stop the pain, okay?”
Her relieved sob shreds me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut.
So fucking sorry she didn’t get a chance to flourish. That I let her believe I hated her rather than myself. That she’ll probably never look at me without seeing the mutts that sealed her mother’s fate.
That she’s about to be tethered to the face of her nightmares.
Most of all, I’m sorry she’ll never understand why I couldn’t—can’tgive her the choice she deserves. Not if I can avoid it. There’s no reality where I’ll freely offer her the weight of her fallen species. Of the entireworld.There’s no reality where she wouldn’t allow herself to fall upon that blade.
None.
I lean back as a comforted smile touches her lips, her chin wobbling, lids drifting shut, more tears slipping free. “I’ll b-be a flower in your garden.”
Never.
I growl past lengthening canines, then sink my teeth into my bottom lip, swirling a gush of blood through my mouth before I gently cup her face.
Press my lips to hers.
She whimpers into me as I spear my tongue deep, lacing her with a thousand sorrys. A thousand pleas for forgiveness.
It’ll never be enough.
I drop my hand to her throat and gently massage her wounded skin, counting the seconds before she finally swallows, knowing they’re her final moments of freedom. That from this day on, she won’t be able to go a day withoutrelyingon me; her biggest, most lethal weakness.
A tender vulnerability, constantly ticking down.
I’m buying us moments, sidestepping fate, only to tether it to our heels where it’ll snap at us with every forward step for the rest of our lives. But like a starving thief, I’ll take those stolen moments and devour each one until there’s nothing left to steal.
She sucks a shuddered gasp, and then she’s deepening the kiss with the force of a wildfire, pulling my face closer. Swallowing.
Breathing.
Spine arching, she moans through the wash of pure, untainted ecstasy I feel pulsing through our building bond as my blood muddies her system, brushing away her lone existence. Planting a malignant, parasitic seed deep inside her chest.
