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“Why? Because she’s on a mission to take everyone from me. Everyone I have ever loved. And I tried to keep you out of her sights—”
“I’m not afraid of her!” Tyreste yelled. “I’m not afraid of anything in this world exceptlosing you.”
Ana held her silence. With one of her hands on the tree, her shoulders lifted with her labored breaths. “There’s evil... and then there’s Magda. You want to know why Addy almost died tonight, Tyreste?” She turned to regard him over her shoulder. Her eyes glistened in the moonlight. “The koldyna poisoned an entire village to teachmea lesson.”
Tyr could only shake his head. “But—”
“Peoplediedtonight because I refused to do her bidding any longer. More people will die.” She turned all the way around and wrapped herself in her arms—a sad, fractured hug. “Youwill die, if I can’t let you go.”
He ran a hand down his throat and turned his head toward the night sky. “I know death. I’ve dined with it... danced with it. But I have never known what it is to give my heart away so willingly, knowing that to do so means I am entirely at the mercy of the one I gave it to. Knowing that even if she gives it back to me, I wouldn’t even recognize it, for it’s no longer mine at all. So I don’t fear death, Ana. I’m already dead.”
Ana threw herself into his arms. It happened so fast, he couldn’t decide what to do with his hands, but it didn’t matter—nothing did—because she was kissing him the way she used to, spreading his lips with hers. Her legs climbed his sides until he leaned down to lift her. The rest of the world fell away, and there was only the slide of her tongue lapping his and the warmth of moans he’d feared he would never hear again beyond his dreams. The clench of her fist in his hair... the squeeze of her thighs locking around his hips. The tiny, fraught scream she sounded before climbing higher, until she was no longer kissing him but looking down on him through tearful eyes.
She slid slowly back down until her feet touched the ground. “If you love me, Tyreste...” She pursed her mouth and cast her eyes toward the side before looking back. “If you truly love me, you’ll pretend you don’t. You’ll do as you threatened months ago and ignore me when we pass on the road. You’ll act as though I’m the last person in all the world you’d want to see again. And you’ll do it so convincingly that Magda’s eyes will pass over you.”
“How?” His voice croaked. “How?”
Ana shrugged with a sorrowful smile. “If you figure it out, let me know, will you?”
“And Nessa...” The truth felt within his grasp, but he needed to hear her say it.
“I have to go.” She swallowed. “I’m going to try to save as many as I can. If you can find your... your magic, you should do the same.”
Tyr nodded. “And then what?”
Ana huffed a short, bitter laugh. “I can’t run anymore. And it’s probably futile to keep fighting when there’s no way for me to win.” She nodded to herself. “But that’s what I’m going to do. It may be the last thing I ever do—”
“Ana.”
“But this has been going on for centuries, and no one has done anything to stop it. Someone has to try.Ihave to try.”
“What do you mean centuries...” Tyr’s mouth fell open.
The letters.
It had been Ana all along. The false translations. The theft. She was the only one who knew every inch of his cabin. His hiding spot.
The answer was so obvious. He’d been such a fool.
“If I survive this... if Icaneven defeat her...” Ana’s cheeks puffed out with a held breath. She released it and smiled tightly. “I’ll find you again.”
“No, Ana, wait.Wait.I’m coming with—”
“Don’t you dare,” she warned, moving sideways, toward the alley and escape. “Don’t youfuckingdare, Tyreste Penhallow.”
Ana’s eyes locked onto his and then she broke away and fled into the night.
Tyreste’s objections never made it past his clogged throat, but they were still more than alive in his heart, beating so hard, it was the only sound left.
He would respect her need to fight her own battles.
But he was fucking done with not fighting forher.
Sister of Ash, Blood of the Wulf
Chapter16
Death No Longer Scares Me
