Page 82 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

His tattoo ripples beneath the surface.

The moon shows a four.

Tonight it’ll be a three.

Then two.

Then one.

Then gone.

Lachlan stays under for a long time.

Long enough for it to get Kade’s attention, worry building as he watches Lachlan beneath the soapy, bloody surface. He’s clearly still alive, he’s just not troubling himself to come up.

Kade pokes his shoulder.

Lachlan rises, taking long, deep breaths.

‘Were you drowning yourself?’

‘I was seeing how long I could go. Your lung capacity was astonishing.’

‘If you say so.’ Kade lathers soap between his hands. ‘What did your ritual page say? In the book.’

‘I told you already.’

‘Blaire said you didn’t read it properly.’

‘The top chunk was all rhyming shit, so I admit I skim-read it. Never did like poetry.’

‘What do you remember?’

‘I remember...’ Lachlan sighs, inclining his head like a dog as Kade washes his neck and shoulders, thumbs pressing into deep knots of layered muscle. ‘OK, let me think.’

Kade waits patiently, pretends to be washing Lachlan’s shoulders, but it’s really a subtle massage for reasons he is absolutely not analysing.

After a minute, Lachlan nods.

‘OK, so the top part I can’t remember at all, except for the last line.’

‘What was it?’

‘Eight swords in earth till eight bells clear.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I want to break it,’ Kade tells him, pushing lower, palms grazing thick scars that sit like half-sunken serpents in Lachlan’s skin. ‘Your bargain.’

‘I know you do,’ Lachlan tells him softly, lifting his upside-down gaze to Kade once more. ‘But you can’t. In the time I have left—’

‘Stop talking like that.’

‘—I want to do whatever I can to make you happy, to help you, even if that means helping your fuck-ass boss and Iron Star.’

‘You already helped today.’