He moves before Maximus can stop him, a blur of motion toward the ramp, toward the exit. Maximus takes one step to follow.
Then he stops.
I watch him make the choice. Watch the war on his face, the fury and the fear, the need for vengeance battling against something stronger. He could chase Konstantin. Could finally end the enemy who's been hunting him for centuries.
Instead, he turns away.
He turns toward me.
He's running, crossing the distance between us in a blur, dropping to his knees at my side. His hands find my face, my shoulders, my wound, cataloging damage with desperate efficiency.
"Celeste. Look at me."
I try to focus on his face. It keeps blurring, splitting into doubles. "You let him go."
"I let him go."
"You've been hunting him for..."
"I don't care." His voice cracks. "I don't care about Konstantin. I don't care about the war or the network or any of it. I care about you."
"That's very poor strategic thinking."
He chokes out something that might be a laugh. "You're dying, and you're critiquing my strategy?"
"Someone has to."
His hands are shaking as they press against my wound, trying to slow the bleeding.
"Valentina's dead," I manage. "I killed her."
"I know. I saw." He smooths blood-matted hair from my face. "You were magnificent."
"She told me things. About Rome. About what Konstantin did to me." Another wave of pain washes through me, and I curl into him, gasping. "I'm a weapon, Maximus. A sleeper agent. He built a trigger into me, something that will make me... make me..."
"Make you what?"
"Kill you." The words come out broken. "When he activates it, I won't be able to stop myself. I'll be forced to... I'll watch myself..." I can't finish. The horror of it chokes me.
His hands frame my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. "I know."
"You... what?"
"Konstantin told me. While we were fighting." His jaw tightens. "He was very pleased with himself. Said he'd finally found a way to destroy me that I couldn't fight. That the woman I love would be my executioner."
"And you still came to me. You still..."
"Of course I did."
"Maximus, I'm dangerous. I'm a bomb he can set off whenever he wants. You should..."
"Should what? Leave you to die?" His voice is fierce. "Let you bleed out alone because youmightbe used against me someday?"
"Yes."
"No." The word is absolute. "I've spent six hundred years being strategic. Being careful. Keeping everyone at arm's length because attachment is weakness and love is a vulnerability." He leans closer. "And you know what it got me? Centuries of survival.Centuries of emptiness. Centuries of being so alone I forgot what it felt like to want someone this much."
"I could kill you."
