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“Shh,” he shushes. “I have to concentrate. It’s taking all my strength to keep the ruse up. Just be quiet. Gage will be fine.”
“How can you know that?” I ask, looking to Sadie when Chaz doesn’t respond.
“Because we planned this all out. I had to wear a different face to make it inside, because we weren’t sure where you were exactly, and Gage pretended that he had to help Chaz through the facility. Everything is planned down to the second,” she answers, skidding around a curve, and punching the gas harder.
“Why did you have to go in as a guard?” Karma wheezes, needing answers now, just like I do.
“Because saving you was only part of the plan. The other part was planting a seed. I planted that seed, watered it, and made sure it grew before I left. They trusted that face, and when he wakes up, he’ll believe it was really him that said it.”
She smiles proudly, but I’m not done worrying about Gage. I don’t give a damn about anything else.
“But—”
“Shh,” she says softly. “Sleep.”
My tears pour out, but then I feel the undeniable tug of sleep that I’ve had to deny for five days, and despite all my best efforts, the safety of the car brings the exhaustion I can no longer deny my weakened body.
***
GAGE
“You truly want Morgana?” Gavin asks, appearing to be stalling.
His eyes flit back to the bodies on the ground. Even though it’s just an illusion, it’s hard as hell to see Kimber lying there, her head severed like Karma’s, as the bodies bleed out. It’s a brutal imagery, but it was the only way to keep him from going to check on a pulse.
Just a little while longer, and Kimber will be safely distanced from this place. I can’t fight Gavin. Not here. Not with my magic strained and his fully active under the protective spells and markings this place has.
“Yes—Morgana for the weapons. You stole her from me once, so now I want to return the favor.”
He narrows his eyes at me, and then he turns his attention on the illusion of Chaz at my side.
“You’re going to just let him get away with killing a member of the royal family and then hand the weapons over to me for a girl you don’t even know?”
Fake Chaz shrugs, appearing bored. He can’t answer, which means his power is weakening the farther away he gets. It’s almost time to get the hell out of here.
“You must be growing bored with her after all these many centuries.”
Gavin cuts his eyes back toward me. “You’d be a fool to want her. She’s never going to love you. You might have just killed the only girl who does love you.”
Kimber. He has no idea what I’d do for her, even if it costs me my own life. But he never saw Chaz coming. Hell, I never saw Chaz coming, and I’ve known him for decades. At least now I know why Karma was initially wary. She did see him.
“Think about it brother. Give me your answer soon.”
He growls low in his throat. But he thinks I have all the leverage now. And technically I do.
“I’ll find someone you care about.”
I wink at him. “You already have. I’m trying to make a deal for her life,” I lie.
Morgana chose her life. I freed her, and somehow she managed to save him. She’s no doubt the reason he’s alive. She loves him, and even though she deserves so much better, I can’t help her until she’s ready to help herself.
He won’t give her up. For whatever reason, he can’t seem to leave her alone, so this is all to stall. They’ve had time, and when I see the illusion in front of me flicker, I know it’s time to get the hell out of there.
Gavin’s head darts to the illusion of the two limp bodies on the floor as the image sways again, losing more power.
“What the fuck?!” he roars, running over and swiping a hand through the faux imagery, and I use that distraction to dematerialize and push myself up and out, straining against the protective magic that doesn’t want me using my power in here.
I feel it the second I’m free, because the resistance shatters, making it easier to rush through the planes, driving myself farther and faster than I ever have before. I push myself until I reach the brink of using too much power, channeling every ounce of control I have before finally materializing on the road, but the second my feet hit the pavement, I start running.
