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Another growl worked its way up my throat.
“Fine.” She sighed. “Yes. I knew there was danger.”
“Was it because you didn’t trust me to go?” I had to ask. “Did you go yourself because you didn’t think I’d do it for you?”
Her lips parted. “No, Ajax, no.” She shook her head. “We knew you guys were hunting Samuel, and we knew that Ransom would do his best to stop us, so we took off before he could. It’s not like we’re defenseless.”
My eyes flew wide.
Grace grimaced. “Okay, it’s not like we don’t all have our own capabilities. Valor is a freakingproductof the Sons, and she’s pretty deadly. Avianna could scope everything out invisibly. I could hear every thought to give us a heads up, and Lyric wasn’t about to be left behind—” Grace caught the look on my face and stopped. “That’s probably not helping.”
“It’s not,” I agreed. “Are you that anxious to die?”
Grace blinked.
“You put yourself in front of a bullet. If I hadn’t arrived when I did—alerted byRansom’scall and not yours, I might add—that bullet would have pierced your heart a second later.” I folded my arms across my chest to keep from reaching for her. “You could have died tonight.”
“Today…next week.” Her shoulders lifted in a half-hearted shrug. “At least I would have died for a reason.”
“And if it had been me in that situation, would you feel the same?” I couldn’t think of another way to get through to her. “If you had walked in to find that bullet aimed at my heart, would you have felt comfort that you may have been robbed of our final weeks together, but at least I was noble until the end?”
“But it’s not you!” She surged up on her knees, then lost her balance.
I moved quickly, catching her forearms to keep her from falling.
“It’s not you, Ajax,” she whispered. “It’s me. I’m going to die. Whether it’s tonight, or in a couple weeks, I will die. Please tell me you realize that. You can’t keep me safe in this palace. Not from my own brain.” The torment in her eyes choked me. “I have one chance left. One.”
One that we weren’t certain of. One chance that Gabriel warned me was more likely to kill her than save her. But wasn’t achanceof living better than a certainty of dying?
“One that’s slipping away by the day.” I slid my hands around her body to her hips and tugged her to the edge of the bed so she was flush against me.
She tilted her head slightly in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“The weaker you get, the less likely you are to survive transition.”
Her eyes flared in surprise.
“I have one idea,” I admitted. “It’s just that—an idea, but it’s the best chance you have if you still want to be transitioned.” The words came out like they’d been dragged over shards of glass. How the fuck could I even be suggesting this to her?
Because tonight had made it clear that I was going to lose her either way.
“I do,” she assured me, clutching at my shirt. “But what changed your mind?”
I lifted one hand and pushed her hair behind her ear, then cupped the side of her face, memorizing everything about the moment. “I am an expert when it comes to time, Grace. But as much as I want to fight what’s happening to you, I can’t. And the truth is that whatever’s left of your time is yours, not mine. It’s yours to decide what to do with, and if this is what you want, then I’ll give it to you.”
“Even if it means I die tonight?” she whispered, her gaze searching mine.
My body rebelled at the thought, every instinct demanding I put her in a time bubble and hold her there forever like that damned fairytale. “Yes.”
She drew her tongue over her lower lip. “Let’s do it.”
My chest caved in. “You’re certain.”
She nodded. “Now. Right now before I get any weaker.” Tilting her head to the side, she exposed her neck like I was going to sink my fangs into her right there. “Come on, I know you have to complete a full third transfusion, and honestly, it’s hot as hell when you bite me.”
“Yeah, that’s not how this is happening.” I reached for her, swinging her up into my arms. “I’m not going to transfuse you up here and then hope for the best. I’m not leaving shit to chance when it comes to you.”
“Isn’t it all just a chance?” she questioned, laying her head against my chest.
