“They should really get rid of crawlspaces.” He gave me a weak smile. I nodded in agreement.
“Do you ever think about what you’d do if you had him in front of you again?” he asked, voice rough.
My eyes flicked to his, searching. “Daniel?”
Tex nodded. I looked down at our hands. I could still feel the old ache from Daniel’s boot as he kicked and stomped my ribs. The hollow stare my mom had when she letithappen.
“I used to dream about it,” I admitted. “Killing him. Over and over. I’d imagine the weight of the knife in my hand, the look on his face. Sometimes I’d wake up shaking from it. Sometimes I’d wake up smiling.”
Tex didn’t flinch.
“But now…” I breathed out slowly. “I don’t know if I want to kill him or make him suffer.”
That pulled a small sound from him—almost like a laugh, but darker. “That’s more terrifying than anything I could’ve imagined. You really are something else, Ashthorne.”
I met his eyes. “You’re not scared of me?”
“No,” he said without hesitation. “I’m scaredforyou.”
The words settled heavily between us.
“Because you don’t deserve to carry all of this alone. And because if something happens to you before you get that moment—before you get that choice—it would be a goddamn tragedy.”
I swallowed hard. “You make me feel like I’m not some broken girl they found in a hospital bed in one of those gross gowns.” I tried to make light of it, but it died in my throat.
“You’re not,” he said. “You’re a deadly weapon forged in the fires of hell. If I ever get the chance, I’ll help you finish it. Whatever it takes. Just say the word.”
I pressed my forehead to his, our breaths mingling. “Thank you, Tex.”
He closed his eyes. “Anytime, Isobel.”
1 23:17
My hands tingle as if thousands of tiny needles are pricking at my palms. His hand is loose in mine. I’m clutching his pebble so tightly in my hand that the edges dig into my skin.
In the distance, boots slam against concrete. Shouts cut through the air. More gunfire. It feels far away, muffled, like I’m underwater.
Tex’s blood feels tacky as it dries along my fingers and down the back of my hands. This last reminder of him… it’s everywhere. He’sall over meand gone at the same time, it doesn’t make sense. My brain keeps whispering things likewarm means alive, they can fix it. But my chest already knows the truth.
A shadow passes over us. Jace’s voice is urgent, so close it feels abrasive, but the words slide right past me.
I can’t move. Can’t breathe. My heart is drowning.
I don’t even notice when Jace grabs my arm until he’s shouting in my face, “Isobel! If you die here, he died for nothing!”
I fight him as he drags me away. Clawing, kicking, trying to get back to Tex.
“Let me go! I won't leave him!”
Luca’s hands are on Tex now, hauling him up beneath his arms. Noah’sat his legs. Their faces are all hard edges and clenched teeth, but their eyes…I look away.
“We’ve got him!” Luca yells.
I stop fighting Jace, my rifle dangling from its strap. My boots drag over the ground until he shoves me forward. The crack of gunfire punches the air behind us, sharp enough to finally cut through the fog. I blink, the edges of my vision sharpening just enough to see shapes, dark uniforms, Guild insignia flooding the surrounding space.
Reinforcements.
It’s too late.
