Heavy.
Cold.
Immovable.
Because even as the shock rattles my bones, the answer isn’t a question. It never was.
I’d trade myself for Emerson’s sister a thousand times without blinking. I’d walk into hell barefoot if it meant she didn’t have to go through what I did. Kimber is innocent. She doesn’t deserve one second of this nightmare.
But the boys…
My boys…
The thought of them slams into me hard enough to sting behind my eyes. I glance toward the war room door, imagining them just down the hall, tangled in blankets and warm skin, trusting that I’m here. Trusting that I’m safe.
Trusting that I promised to never leave them again.
My lower lip trembles. I clench it between my teeth to stop it.
They’ll break if I disappear.
I know that. I feel it in my bones.
And still… I can’t let Kimber suffer a worse fate than death.
I can’t let her become me.
A sharp breath shudders out of me, my chest tight and aching as I press the heels of my hands to my eyes. “Please forgive me,” I whisper to no one. To all three of them. To the version of myself who swore she was done being a sacrifice.
The screen keeps glowing, the message taunting me as the clock runs down, but my mind is already made up.
Finally, I reach for Bryce’s phone. It feels heavier than it should, like it knows the weight of what I’m about to do. My thumb hovers for a single heartbeat. One last chance to back out.
I don’t.
I type quickly, fingers trembling before I steady them.
What do I need to do?
Chapter Fourteen
Ronan
Wrongness hits before I’m fully awake.
My body registers it ahead of my mind.
The space beside me is cold.
Too cold.
Berk’s warmth is gone.
My eyes snap open so fast they sting. For a second everything blurs, like I’m waking up underwater. The grogginess weighs me down, thick and wrong, because we were supposed to have four hours. Four. Not the ten-pound heaviness dragging at my limbs right now.
My stomach drops.
She wouldn’t let us sleep this long.