Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
I flip my dagger and throw at the same moment Quinn lunges with her own and the pale-haired venin spins. His eyes light up, then glass over as he turns gray and shrivels, collapsing at Quinn’s feet with two daggers in his chest.
“Got him!” I lift my hands in victory and hop down the rest of the steps as Quinn turns toward me, her dark-green eyes impossibly wide as she looks at her chest.
No. The venin’s blade is lodged between her ribs in the vicinity of her heart.
The world around me slows as she sways toward the wall, her horrified gaze finding mine.
“No!” I shout, throwing myself at her so it’s me she falls against, and my back scrapes stone as we slide to the floor of the step. I cradle her as carefully as I can, locking my right arm around her back so she doesn’t fall. “Quinn, no.”
“Did they make it?” Her voice breaks as she stares up at me, blood spreading into the layers of her uniform through her flight jacket along the blade.
“We can fix this,” I promise, and suddenly it’s so fucking hard to breathe. “We just need to get you to a mender—”
“Did they make it?” she repeats, resting her head against the top of my arm.
The women. The kids. They hadn’t been telling me they’d left someone behind. They were telling me she’d saved them. “Yeah.” I nod as my eyes burn and my throat tightens. “They made it. You got them out.”
“Good.” A soft smile pulls at her mouth.
“Hold on, all right? We need to get you some help.” I look up and down the staircase, but we’re alone. Someone has to be close by. Aetos, maybe? “Get us some help!” I scream toward Glane.
“I’m sorry,” she says more gently than I’ve ever heard, ever wanted to hear.
“There’s no helping me,” Quinn whispers.
“That’s not true.” I shake my head, and my vision blurs. Quinn will be fine. A world doesn’t exist where she isn’t fine, isn’t laughing with Jax or hanging off my bed with her curls hitting the floor so she can get a head rush while she lectures me about feelings.
A roar vibrates the stone at my back. Cruth.
“There are no menders here, and no runes for this,” she says with that damned reassuring smile of hers. “This is one thing you can’t fix, Gen.” Her face contorts with pain and I swear I feel it in my own chest, rending muscle and stripping my veins before it passes and her breaths grow shallow. “I need you to tell Jax that I love her.”
“No.” I wipe away the tear that slides from my eye before it can reach her hair. “You tell her. You’re going to graduate in a couple of months, and then you’ll marry her in that pretty black dress you picked out, and you’re going to be happy.”
“Tell her she’s been the best part of my life—” Her mouth curves and she glances past me. “You don’t count, Cruth. You became my life.” She brings her gaze back to mine, and the color drains from her face. “Please, Gen. She’s with the officers in the south, and I won’t…”
I nod. “I’ll tell her.” This can’t be real, can it? How can this be real?
“Thank you,” she whispers and relaxes against me, her blinks slowing. “Tell my parents it was worth it. I’m glad it’s you with me. Parapet to Malek’s own doorstep. I’m so sorry I have to go first this time.” Her breathing garbles. “And you should tell him, Gen. Tell him, and you find some happy.”
“Quinn—” My voice shatters. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me,” I beg, wiping another tear as my vision blurs and clears. “You’re my best friend, and I love you. Please stay.” This is not how she ends, not in some dark stairwell in Draithus. It can’t be. I’m the one who’s supposed to fall. She’s supposed to live forever.
“You’re mine, and I love you, too.” Her smile slips and another tear falls. “I’m scared. I don’t want to be scared.”
My face twists, but I mask it. “Don’t be scared.” I shake my head and force a smile. “My mom will take care of you. And Katrina, too.” My mouth quivers. “She’s a little bossy, but she’ll be thrilled to have another little sister. I talk about you all the time. They’ll know who you are. Don’t be scared.”
Her next breath is strained and watery. “They’ll know me.”
I nod. “They’ll know you and they’ll love you. It’s impossible not to love you.”
“Imogen,” she whispers, and her eyes flutter shut.
“I’m right here,” I promise, but I can’t force the words any louder as my throat closes.
“We made it a good one.” She falls limp, and when I lift my shaking fingers to her throat, there’s no pulse. She’s gone.