“Take my revenge. Obviously.”
“Obviously.” She nodded along. “I can clearly see that finally taking vengeance is appealing to you, thanks to the slightly psychotic grin on your face.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No.” She came toward me a little warily. “But I can warn you to be careful. I know we both feel healed but—”
“We’ll be okay.” I cut her off, my heart fisting with her concern. “Once I’ve exterminated all those who were involved in the Requiem harvesting, we’ll leave and never come back. Alright? We’ll be back at Ashfall Cliff by tomorrow.”
Twisting off the cap on the water bottle, I held it to my lips. “Besides, we can’t be away too long because Whisper will lose his ever-loving mind.”
“He won’t eat Dillon, will he?”
“Only if he deserves it.” I took a drink, driven by a lifetime of human habits—
“Ah, fuck.” My stomach lurched with vicious nausea, doubling me over as water exploded from my mouth. The sensation of liquid on my tongue made my system retch again.
“Lucien!” Rook came to my side, grabbing the bottle from my fist and throwing it into the corner of the room. “You already know we can’t eat or drink. What were you thinking?”
Coughing, I spat out the dregs and straightened. “I forgot but...now I guess we have conclusive proof that food and water is off the table.”
Her heart skipped a beat, so much louder and perfect than the rest heading this way. “Then how are our bodies going to stay alive if we can’t feed them?” Images of us wasting away and dying of thirst filled her head.
My body gave no indication that it hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in days, yet what if our time wasn’t just running out butover? Maybe this flush of energy was what everyone felt on their death bed: a final burst of strength to achieve their last wishes.
My hands balled, smoke escaping from my wrists as fire smouldered.
“Are you okay?” Rook studied me. “Are you still feeling sick?”
“I’m not sick.” Turning to her, I cupped her cheeks. “I have no ideawhatI am, and you might think I’m idiotic for what I’m about to do.”
“What are you about to do?” Her fingers wrapped around my wrists, locking around the smoke coiling free.
“If you’re right that this is one of our final days on earth...I can’t die knowing they’re still alive. I will never be able to rest knowing that the men who did this to me—the men who tortured all those people in the Eastern Crucible—are still walking around without being punished.”
“I know.” Her eyes welled with tears. “I get it. Believe me.”
“So you know what I have to do.”
She sucked in a breath. “We can come back with an army. Let’s escape first and then—”
“I promise I’ll get you out of here, Rook. I vow it on whatever is left of my life, but...I can’t run like a coward. I can’t leave without hurting them first.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek as our enemy’s heartbeatscame closer, echoing with the soft thud of their boots. “Just promise me you won’t burn yourself out again. That you won’t do anything without me.”
“I can’t promise that.” I kissed her exquisitely softly. “If wearedying, then I need to do whatever it takes to bring those bastards with me—”
“Then I forbid you.”
I tucked locks of midnight hair behind her ear. “I have to make this right, Rook. I’ll never forgive myself otherwise.”
“But what about me?” Her voice hitched. “What about the fact that Snowflake Corp is the reason all of this happened in the first place? My parents are the ones who messed around with immortality. They’re the reason so many others were caught up in the crosshairs, thinking they could use your blood to make more.”
“And if we’re still alive by tomorrow, then we’ll focus on them.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “But right now, they’ve brought us to Brimstone, and I’m not leaving until I’ve burned the entire place to the fucking ground.”
“Fine.” She slouched in defeat. “I’ll help you. I’ll fight with you but only if youvowto me that you’ll stay alive. No matter what.” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’ve brought you back from the dead once, Lucien Ashfall. Please don’t make me do it again.”
The raw fear in her voice broke me a little, so I kissed her.
