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The Paragon knows…Noctus is right.
“No.” I shook my head, fighting the sudden deluge of tears that burned at my eyes. “No, there has to be a way.”
“We’re not giving up,” Noctus said. “I’ll keep fighting until the end. But you don’t have to. Please, Chloe.”
I shook my head, my breath coming in a choked sob.
Looking up at him, I saw him briefly turn in our direction. “You are my Amalourne. I can face this, knowing you survive. Run. Promise me.”
Ker, despite her inability to hear, must have picked up on what was going on, because she slung an arm across my shoulders and tilted her head against mine. “Go, Chloe. Please. For all of us.” She smiled at me, her brown eyes shiny. “We knew we’d go down like this someday.”
“We’ve been prepared for it since the day the war ended,” Aristide added, unflappable with his wry grin.
Charon studied me, and for a moment I saw a raw vulnerability in his eyes. “Calor Villa…”
“I’ll help them,” I said.
“Thank you.” Charon infused the words with so much feeling, I started crying in earnest. Gently, he put his hands on my shoulders and turned me toward the edge of the Cloisters’ property. He then pulled a hidden dagger from the top of his boot and handed it to me. “Here, take this for protection, and go.”
“But your cellphone,” I said.
Charon shook his head. “I won’t be needing it. You can keep talking to His Majesty for a little longer.”
Until it’s over.
I wanted to break down into great sobbing tears, but I’d fall apart later. I wasn’t going to do anything to drag my friends—the first group of supernaturals who had ever accepted me—into a miserable memory.
I scrambled over the hedge, then looked back at them.
Ker waved, then turned to Aristide as Charon drew closer to the pair.
“Chloe?” Noctus asked.
“I’m here!” I carefully pointed my dagger away from my face and wiped my eyes on the sleeve of my sweater, then started running.
“I love you. Thank you for all the ways you changed my life, and thank you for surviving.”
I almost stopped running—it felt like my heart was physically shattering.I can’t do this.
“Chloe?”
I forced myself to keep running. “I love you, Noctus. More than anything. I’m so glad we met.”
Something crackled on the phone line. “I have to go,” Noctus said. “But don’t stop running. Survive, Chloe. You’ll become the most stunning shadow the world has ever seen. I love you.”
Chapter Thirty
Chloe
Aclick severed the call, leaving me alone as I kept jogging, struggling to breathe through my brokenness.
I’m running. Always running and leaving others in danger.My head pounded with each step I took.It’s so unfair. If only I was more capable! I’m so useless!
The truth was, even if I had my harness and weapons, I wasn’t that special. I could fight, but while I could have taken out shadow creatures, that was it.
I hadn’t even been able to stop the tracker—Noctus had.
I was powerless.
