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“Tell you what,” Tate said, pressing her advantage. “Even if you lose, your little pals can keep the car. A life for a car, a ride home. That’s about fair, isn’t it Augustine? Or if he’s feeling merciful, we can skip the race and put you straight into one of his bloodpods. Go save your kingdom, come back in three years to retrieve your ally.”
“Tate—” Augustine said, a warning in his voice.
“We are not doing that,” I said.
“Why do you get to decide?” Camina asked. “I accept your challenge. Whatever it is. But only if it’s on equal terms. With elixir.”
“Can’t you stop this?” I hissed at Augustine. Tate watched the chaos she’d created, thriving on it.
“It’s a bet,” Augustine said sternly. “But it’s already late. I suggest proper consideration, for so weighty a wager. It’ll have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll leave you. I trust you can find your own way home.”
“It’s my life,” Camina said fiercely, before I even raised an objection.
“No, it isn’t,” I said, nodding at the bullet necklace she was still wearing. “You promised Jazmine, right? She wouldn’t have wanted this.”
“You don’t get to say her name,” she snapped back. She stood to face me, with fire in her eyes. “Or use her memory to manipulate me to your cause. And besides, what concessions have you been offering our host, behind locked doors? Making your own private deals. First the prince, now Augustine?”
I felt the sting in my palm before I realized I’d slapped her.
Her surprise turned to rage in a flash. She pinned me against the wall, a hand to my throat. I could smell the elixir surging through her.
But it wasn’t anger in her eyes. It was pain, a pain I recognized. It mirrored my own. Trevor strode forward, but I held out a hand to warn him away. We had to finish this conversation.
“Why didn’t you stop them,” Camina whispered, her eyes wide and haunted. “The slagpaw. I’ve seen you control them before. You could have.”
“It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. But you’re right; I screwed up. I let my guard down, first with Damien, then on the bridge. If I hadn’t, she’d still be here. But you wouldn’t be.”
Camina blinked, then her expression softened. She loosened her grip and let me down.
“We were kind of in the middle of a huge battle,” Luke said. “They came out of nowhere. Jazmine was crazy to fire that gun.”
“She made her choice,” Trevor said. “In another second, Bryce would have snapped Camina’s neck, or dropped her off the bridge.”
“It should have been me,” Luke said. “I had the gun. But she was so fast—”
“It’s nobody’s fault,” Trevor said.
But of course it was. My mission. Unnecessary risk. A revolution I never really believed in, that Damien didn’t care for. Jazmine had already lost her brother, and she still joined me on my mad quest… even after finding happiness of her own.
“She’s gone,” I said, with a tear on my cheek. “But she died to protect you. Don’t take that away from her.”
Camina scowled and turned away.
“What difference does it make, if I die in your battle for the throne or sacrifice myself to win you a car? Either way I’ll have served my purpose, just as Jazmine served hers.”
“You’re both idiots,” Luke grumbled. “She made her own choices. She loved you. She saved you. She’s a goddamn hero, and you’re trying to take credit for her victory.”
“But she left me,” Camina said, her voice cracking with emotion. “She promised me a life, then chose death with the bullet I gave her.”
“Without that bullet, she’d be sitting here without you. It allowed her to risk everything, to save the person she loved,” Trevor said. “You don’t think she’d make exactly the same choice, if given another chance? Luke’s right, her courage, her sacrifice. That’s all on her.”
“If anyone is to blame,” Luke said. “It’s that asshole curate from Denvato. He’s the one who turned on us.”
“Rasha,” Trevor nodded. “And Farrah. They must have called for backup.”
“To be fair,” I said, “we put them in a tough situation. Nigel is the one making this so difficult. And we will make him pay. For all of it, for everything he took from us. I swear it. If you want, I’ll leave him to you.”
Camina scowled at me for a second, but then nodded her head. It wasn’t much, but it was something I could give her. Something to look forward to. Like Augustine said, hope is the most valuable thing in the world, even though it’s free.
