She needed to-
“Sorry, lass,” came the softly murmured words as she felt a pinch in her side seconds before sharp metal slice through her side, sending agonizing pain through her side and tearing a surprised grunt from her lips only to tear a scream from her when she felt the blade pulled free only to slide through her chest a moment later.
When he pulled the blade free, Ashlyn felt her body go limp as hot liquid quickly spread over her chest, but it wasn’t enough to chase away the cold suddenly enveloping her body. She opened her mouth to beg him to stop only to have blood pour over her lips and join the blood soaking into her tunic.
“Ye never should have come here, lass,” Bécc said with a heavy sigh as she found herself carried to the bed she’d shared with Shayne.
“If it helps, he’ll be joining ye soon,” Bécc said with a pitying look as he placed her on the bed, tearing a strangled whimper from her lips as she was forced to lie there as tears streamed down her face.
She couldn’t let him hurt Shayne, Lasarín thought, willing her body to move as every breath became more difficult than the last and black spots began dancing along her vision. She-
“Yer father didn’t want ye ta feel left out,” Bécc said as she watched him pull a black rock from his tunic and placed it in her hand as she began to drift off as everything slowly faded away.
The Three King’s Inn
Boston, MA
1695
Without a word,Aileen quickly made her way across the room, climbed onto the bed, quickly crawled beneath the covers, and-
“You’re too old to still be doing this,” came the painfully familiar greeting as Aileen pulled the covers over her shoulders even as she told herself not to do this.
“You won’t even know that I’m here,” Aileen absently murmured, repeating the same line that she’d been using every night since she was six and came to live with his family.
“I always know,” Thomas said as she reluctantly closed her eyes and focused on keeping her breaths even as she waited for him to make this easier.
“Aileen?” Thomas whispered softly a few minutes later. When she didn’t say anything, he whispered her name again before she felt him shift on the bed seconds before she felt his arm wrap around her and pulled her closer. As soon as she was in his arms, he released a soft sigh as she felt his body relax against hers.
“Aileen,” Thomas whispered one last time as she felt his lips press against the back of her neck and-
“I love you, Thomas,” Aileen whispered only to feel him go still against her seconds before she felt his arm pull free as he shifted away from her and just like that, she had her answer.
Swallowing hard, Aileen forced herself to push the covers away and climb off the bed only to feel her heart break when he didn’t try to stop her. With every step she took towards his bedroom door, she willed him to say something, to stop her, to come after her, to do something that would make this pain slowly tearing through her chest and making it difficult to breathe go away.
But he didn’t say anything.
He simply lay there and watched her go.
At least now she knew, Aileen told herself as she paused outside his bedroom door to grab the linen sack that she’d packed her clothes in earlier before she released a shaky breath and forced herself to make her way downstairs. She wouldn’t cry, not now, Aileen told herself as she thought about the deal that she’d made with herself, the one that was forcing her to finally walk away.
There would be plenty of time to cry later, Aileen promised herself even as she reached up and angrily wiped away the tears already starting to roll down her face. Right now, she needed to walk through that front door and-
“Hurry up!” came the hushed whisper that drew her attention to the bar, where she spotted two large men struggling to open something. When she reached the bottom step a small creak tore through the room, drawing their attention and-
She watched in confusion as a small poof of fire suddenly exploded in front of the man, who’d begged her for an extra serving of stew earlier, as a deafening boom suddenly tore through the night, drowning out the sound of the bottom step groaning beneath her weight seconds before something hot tore through her chest.
For a moment, no one moved as they all stood there in shocked silence until the sound of liquid dripping on the floor had Aileen slowly looking down to numbly watch as blood soaked through the front of her dress just as her legs gave out, dropping her to the floor with a soft groan. As she lay there, unable to do anything more than struggle to breathe, she watched helplessly as Thomas ran past her and tackled the man holding the smoking musket limply in his hand.
She watched him strike the man, who’d thanked her for the extra bowl of stew with a half-penny, over and over again. When she saw the other man raise his musket to stop Thomas from killing his friend, Aileen opened her mouth to scream only to manage a weakly whispered, “Thomas, run.”
Tears began to stream down her face and join the blood pooling beneath her as she watched Thomas stumble back as his hand went to his stomach. She watched blood pour between his fingers and onto the floor, mixing with hers as the men scrambled to get to their feet and grabbed the empty lock box they’d lost the key for years ago before they ran out the front door.
“Aileen,” Thomas whispered hollowly as he stumbled back to her and dropped by her side.
“They’ll be back,” Aileen whispered, knowing that they would come back as soon as they realized there was no money in the lock box.
“It doesn’t matter,” Thomas said with a sad smile as he dropped his hand away from his stomach and reached for her. He pulled her into his arms and-
