“Wait.” August cut her off. “The lock of hair. That wasyou?”
“Artie, technically. He snipped it from some sleeping Emerald Unit recruit.”
August groaned, rubbing his face with his hands in exasperation. “You shouldn’t be telling me this.”
“Why?” Quinn snapped. “If you were truly not on our side, you would have thrown me into isolation by now. But I’m still here. Standing. And you’re still here. Listening. So why don’t we just cut the shit and figure out how to get her the hell out of here.”
August dropped his hands from his face. “Why?”
Quinn blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Why would you want to help Wren escape?” August repeated. “What’s in it for you?”
Quinn flinched, taken aback. She looked him up and down, brows cinched together. “You really think you’re the only one?” she asked, voice trembling. “The only Demien in here who regrets what they’ve done?” Shame and hurt twisted her words, the sound of it sending a shiver down August’s spine. “If Wren stays, shewillbecome the catalyst. And once she’s awoken…then that’s it. Blackwood will be in ruins. Hundreds of innocent souls destroyed. Not to mention we have no idea what will happen to the afterlife with that level of corruption. It could all come undone.”
“But…you chose this.” August spoke the words slowly. “You made the decision to join the Order.”
Quinn’s bottom lip quivered. A flicker of defeat washed over her expression.
“I know,” she whispered, voice cracking. “I was so angry. So fucking angry.” She shook her head, mumbling something that August couldn’t quite hear, her gaze drifting to the ground. She took a breath, as if composing herself, and continued. “I couldn’t stomach the thought that my eternity had been chosen for me. That if I didn’t prove myself to some stupid institution, then I’d be forced to reap lost souls for the rest of eternity. Lose all my memories? Lose the person I once was?”
August empathized with her—more than she would ever understand. “That’s all I have left,” Quinn went on. “My memories. My past. I wasn’t ready to let that go. But…now I realize that I made a mistake. Coming here…it doesn’t fix anything.”
This was August’s last opportunity to back out. To solidify the wall between them. He could pretend to be the unfeeling general again. He could stride away from Quinn and continue to work on his own, risking the possibility that he might not have what it would take to get Wren out of the encampment without help. Or…he could take a chance—a stupid, reckless chance—and trust Quinn.
August inhaled a sharp breath. He met Quinn’s stare.
And then he knew.
He had no choice.
“What do we do?”
Relief washed over Quinn’s expression the moment the words left August’s lips.
“Artie can remove the security cuff,” she said. August couldn’t contain the shock that bled over his face. “But our window of opportunity afterward is going to be small. Almost nonexistent. The moment he deactivates it, the internal alarm is going to go off and warn Edith. Which means thesecondthat security cuff is removed, we have to get Wren as far away from the encampment as humanly possible. Find somewhere safe to hide her.”
Somewhere safe.
August knewexactlywhere. It was the only place left.
“I know somewhere,” he whispered back. “It’s all the way on the other side of purgatory. Far west, past Blackwood’s central location. And truthfully, I’m not sure they’ll be thrilled to see me…but we can try.”
Quinn bit her bottom lip in concentration.
“We’ll have to relocate her,” she muttered, a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was calculating something. Her face fell. “But you can’t relocate normally in the outskirts of purgatory…not like you can here or at Blackwood. You’d have to use shadow magic.A lotof it.”
August shook his head. “I can take care of it.”
“No.” Quinn’s expression hardened. “You’re not listening to me.” She let out a sigh. “To relocate someonethatfar away…it could change you. Not to the extent that casting the Reaper’s Kiss would, but…” She let out a weighted sigh. “You could succumb to the shadows. It’s a risk.”
August didn’t even hesitate. Screw his soul. Screw his eternity.
He’d damn himself—destroyhimself—if it meant saving Wren.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” he replied.
Quinn stared at him for an extended beat. Would she try to convince him otherwise? But she must have seen the determination in his eyes, felt the unwavering resolve burning through him, and decided against it.
