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“We’re just going to take him to the hospital first, okay?” she murmured gently. “We’ll look after him and then you guys can go home.”
“No.” I shook my head, pawing at her hands. Perhaps she’d be on our side if I could make her understand. She’d protect him. She’d hide him. “He can’t go to the hospital. They’ll know who he is.”
“Know who he is?” She cupped my cheeks, her fingers feathering around my head as if searching for a wound. “Why would that matter? We need to know who he is so we can make him feel better.”
I pushed her away. “Please. Just make him wake up and I can do the rest. I can look after him. I was born to be his, don’t you understand? You have to understand. If you take him away from me, he’ll die and—” A sob cut me off.
My body felt wrong.
My thoughts nothing more than storm clouds.
“I did this, don’t you see?” I cried. “He told me not to speak to them and I did. He protected me. He always protects me. And I distracted him. If I’d let him kill that bastard, he’d be fine. We’d be fine. I always do this. I make so many mistakes. I don’t think. I don’t listen. I...I—”
My stomach churned. Guilt slashed at my throat.
“Just ignore all that for now, okay? What’s his name, honey? Tell me his name and yours, and we’ll call your family to come be with you guys. How about that? You won’t be alone to deal with this anymore, okay? You’ll have family.”
Family.
My family loves Aslan.
Aslan’s father wants to slaughter him.
“He has to stay here. Promise me you’ll let him stay.”
The EMTs shared a concerned look. Finally, the man muttered, “Definitely shock.” Looking down, he inserted an IV line into Aslan’s veins. “No head wounds?”
The woman pursed her lips. “Nothing that I can feel.”
“Then it’s purely psychological.” His voice turned harder as he looked at me. “Climb into the ambulance. We’re going to go now. We’ll get you both feeling better as soon as possible.”
More sirens shredded the night, followed by more flashing blue and red lights.
The empty street became a hive of activity as two police cars joined the traffic jam of Mazda and ambulance.
Car doors slammed as uniformed officers climbed out.
Their buckles glinted.
Their buttons gleamed.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
I’m—
I lost the battle.
Air swirled.
Night crushed.
And the last thing I saw was Aslan, bloody and broken, before I collapsed beside him, and everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Three
*
