But I knew Hewes. And I knew there was a very real possibility that this was goodbye.
I nodded, tears streaming down my face.
Then Roone was tugging at my hand, pulling me toward the vent.
I took one last look at Ahrick—standing in the dim light, blood still drying on his skin, his eyes burning with fierce determination and desperate love.
"I'll see you in three days," I said.
"Three days," he agreed.
Then I followed Roone into the darkness, leaving my heart behind.
Chapter 14
Merrilee
The vent was tight.
Claustrophobically tight.
I had to crawl on my hands and knees, my shoulders scraping against the metal walls, my breath coming in short gasps that echoed too loud in the confined space. My hands trembled against the smooth surface, palms slick with sweat that made every movement feel precarious.
Roone moved ahead of me, his small body navigating the twists and turns like he'd done this a thousand times before.
Maybe he had.
"Quiet now," he whispered back to me. "Sound carries in the vents."
I bit down on my lip, trying to make myself smaller, quieter, less present. But my lungs wouldn't cooperate. Each inhale came faster than the last, shallow and desperate, like my body was rejecting the act of leaving. The darkness pressed in from all sides—not just physical but emotional. Every meter I crawled felt like tearing myself in half.
I was leaving him.
Leaving Ahrick alone in that compound with Hewes's rage and Persico's suspicion and the consequences of hisdisobedience. He'd refused to throw the fight. He'd painted a target on his back. Because of me.
My heart hammered against my ribs—loud enough that I was sure someone would hear it. The panic rose in my throat like bile. What if this was wrong? What if I should go back? What if he needed me there, needed someone watching his back, needed—
The tears burned my eyes and I let them fall.
We crawled through the darkness for what felt like hours. Left turn—another few meters of distance. Right turn—the compound receding further behind me, Ahrick becoming more unreachable with each movement. Down a steep incline that made my hands slip on the smooth metal, my muscles screaming in protest, my mind screaming louder that I was abandoning him.
I almost stopped.
Almost turned around in that narrow shaft and crawled back the way we'd come. Almost told Roone I'd changed my mind, that I couldn't do this. That leaving Ahrick to face Hewes alone was worse than any torture Korroth could have inflicted.
But then I remembered what Ahrick had said:You're mine. And that makes you a target.
I was the liability. My presence endangered him. Every second I stayed in that compound gave Hewes another weapon to use against him, another way to force his compliance, another threat to hold over his head.
Leaving wasn't abandonment.
Leaving was the only way to keep him safe.
The realization didn't make it hurt less. Didn't stop the tears that leaked from my eyes and dripped onto the metal beneath my hands. Didn't ease the crushing weight in my chest that felt like my heart was being physically ripped out with every turn, every passage, every meter of ductwork between us.
We climbed a vertical shaft that required me to brace my back against one wall and my feet against the other, inching upward one painful movement at a time. My thighs shook with effort. My breath came in ragged gasps. The taste of metal and fear coated my tongue.
Finally, Roone stopped.
