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MacAlister wheezed a laugh, reading my face. “You…still…die.”
He was right. I knew what these bullets could do, and with that amount of blood, I knew I’d hit something vital. I had killed a penumbra. Not even Lach could save me.
“No one is dying,” I muttered. MacAlister’s eyes widened as I dropped the gun behind me, out of his reach, and crawled closer to him. Ripping open his shirt, I discovered an entry wound in his upper abdomen. The bullet had likely hit an organ and, judging from the amount of blood, multiple arteries. I choked down a sob of fear as I pressed my palms to the wound.
“Where’s your phone?” I asked through clenched teeth.
He answered with another bloody laugh. “Too late. For both of us.”
I leaned to wipe my sweaty brow on my forearm. MacAlister seized under my hands, his limbs jerking as his body went into shock. Minutes. I had minutes.
“Help,” I whispered, but there was no one to hear me. He was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. A moan rose in the room, keening and hollow as if the wraiths were calling to the Wild Hunt themselves. I dropped back, wiping my bloody hands on my torn skirt before struggling to my feet. I’d barely managed it when Lach appeared.
“How?” I choked.
But he didn’t answer. Another moan did. The wraiths. They’d been watching out for me, as he’d promised.
Shadows rippled in Lach’s eyes as his gaze swept to MacAlister, face tightening as he reached the same conclusion I had. A heartbeat later, the weight of what I’d done collapsed on me. I stumbled a step, and he caught me. He pressed a single kiss to my forehead before steadying me by the shoulders.
His eyes sought mine, forcing me to focus on him. “He’s dying. I’m so sorry about that.”
I nearly crumbled at the reminder, but he held me upright.
He closed his eyes and drew a shuddering breath. When he opened them, they were cold and calculating. The prince of the Nether Court stared back at me. Lachlan Gage. The monster I once hated.
“We don’t have much time.” Another searching glance. “When he dies, his signet will mark his killer and summon the Wild Hunt. I can’t stop that now. Bain doesn’t know; MacAlister must have blocked him before he came after you, or he would already be here.”
Tremors racked me, but Lach’s hands remained steady on my shoulders. I stared into his eyes without seeing him. I wanted to tell him that Bain had sent him. That MacAlister had said as much. But my voice refused to work.
Shock. I was in shock. And that wouldn’t help either of us. I forced a nod.
“Bain will come after you when he discovers what’s happened. I’ll stall him as long as I can, but you need to get out of New Orleans.” He glued his eyes to mine until I nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key fob. I stared at it. He didn’t have a choice. I’d compromised the court. If I stayed, I would put all of them at risk, and he knew it. Behind us, MacAlister rasped. “Shit. We don’t have much time. There’s a phone and money in the glove box.”
Would he be punished for this, too? What would happen to the court? To his family—to my friends? To him? My lips wobbled, but I made them move. “Lach, please—”
“There’s a phone in the glove box,” he repeated, silencing me. “Plug it in and start driving. Get the fuck out of New Orleans. After today, do not step foot in fae territory. Ditch your old phone on the way out of town. Leave it there. And as soon as you’re away, call the only number in the new phone. They’ll know what to do. I can’t risk coming with you now or using my magic to get you farther than that.” He shook my shoulders. “Do you understand?”
I managed to nod, but he had to know that it didn’t matter. The world spun around me, but I focused on his instructions. I would leave. I would keep trouble from the Nether Court, from him, from my home. That’s what this place would always be to me—what he would always be to me—and I would protect both at all costs.
“Destroy the new phone as soon as you make that call.” MacAlister was seizing again. I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t ready to let go yet. I just needed a few more minutes. I would bargain with the devil himself for more time. I fought to inhale as the full weight of what I’d done pressed down on me. Lach gripped my chin. “This is the most important thing. Do not take off that ring, Cate.”
“What?” The question tumbled out of me. He grabbed my hand, brushing his thumb over the emerald. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither did I. But—” MacAlister rattled, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to smother a sob. “It’s what I wanted.” He continued, panic edging into his voice. “Swear that you will never take it off and that you will never give it to me.”
I stared at him. How could he be worried about something so insignificant while the world ended around us? I opened my mouth to ask him, to beg him to stop trying to save me and just be with me in these final, stolen moments.
Lach shook me. “Fucking swear it.”
“I’ll never give it to you,” I choked out. Tears spilled down my cheeks, and then something tingled on the back of my neck—hooking and digging before fading to nothing. My eyes flew open, a sudden coldness flooding through me as I recognized that sensation. “No.”
My fingers flew to the spot as if I could stop it, but it was too late. Somehow, I knew not a trace of the bargain remained. “I don’t understand. How—”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re free. I should have done it sooner. I should have done a lot of things sooner.” His hand wrapped around the one still holding the back of my neck, and he dragged me closer. MacAlister let out another wet, gurgling breath, and my questions faded as I realized time was slipping away.
“We didn’t have enough time,” I whispered, tears blurring his face. I blinked, desperate to memorize it.
I could see the tears shimmering in his green eyes as he pressed his forehead to mine. “There would never have been enough time with you.” His mouth found mine, salt mingled with longing and regret, with what might have been and never would be. The kiss tasted like goodbye. When Lach finally broke it, he paused for one final look into my eyes. “You need to go now.”