But that wasn’t her fault, and he didn’t want her to suffer.
“How bad is it, Heath?”
“Enough to put a bullet in my head.”
“Whatever it takes, no matter how long, you fix it. Do you understand me? Fix it.”
“I will.”
The line went dead, and that was probably for the best anyway. He was so fucking tired.
Just take me home. Let me die having seen home one last time.
It was a pathetic prayer. One told to him when he was young. At death, for the Unseelie, they got one wish. One act of kindness for a life of pain they were forced to endure because of the sins of their forefathers.
One wish to pray for and be granted.
Most, he figured, probably begged for their life. But Heath didn’t want his life without knowing what really happened all those years ago. Why he’d suffered, or if he even had. But he wasn’t so naïve to believe he’d be given that chance, so he prayed to see home. To feel that magic surround him as he faded to the great beyond.
Instead, the Chaos Realm opened, the portal whipping and reaching for him as he lolled to the side. He shot his middle finger at it.
Even that was a lie. Fucking figures.
You wanted truth, Kieran of the Shadow. Come find your truth.
He forced his head up off the ground. “Who are you?”
No one. Everyone. Do you want your truth, or not?
His heart slugged on, each passing second a struggle just to keep working. “Yes, I do.”
Help her get what you seek.
“Her?”
Black tendrils sprung from the darkness, gripping his arms and ankles. He bellowed, fire streaking through his gut and clutching his heart in an iron fist.
Help her.
The words mixed with his screams as he was dragged into the Chaos Realm and the world faded to nothing but agony.
