“You don’t understand.” He tried to grab my wrist, but he was too weak to hold it.
I slid a second shirt behind his back, pressing hard over the wound and tying it tight. It would not hold, but I needed time. Just a little more time!
“My last name is on your skin, and that makes you a traitor. Don’t you get it? They will hang you next to Wolfe!”
No, Wolfe’s not dead! He’s going to fix this like he always does. He wouldn’t die.
“Daphne,” Thay groaned, keeling over in an agonizing sob. “Go. Please go!”
I stopped to keep my mind from folding in on itself. The scrape of shoes, the snap of rope, Nathem falling. None of this could be real right now. This wasn't real!
“Please, Daphne. Please listen to me.”
I bent low, pressing a wet kiss on his already chapped lips.
“We’re going to get out, okay?” I said, shaking my head. “Trust me.”
“Babe,” his throat clenched. “I love you,” he breathed, smoothing the hair from my face. “And that day on the beach, that was fucking it for me. It is all I needed from this hell of a life. But you’ve got to go. I climbed in your window to save you, and now you have to climb from mine tosave yourself.”
“No,” I shook my head. “You die. I die,” I whispered through a sob, watching the world dissolve into ash.
“No!” He grabbed my face, the blood in his eyes dripping into his mouth. “I don’t want you to. I’ve only ever wanted you to live, Daphne.”
“But that is not how we work. Either I die, or you stay alive,” I crawled over him, lifting from under the shoulders and pulling. “Final offer.”
“That is selfish.”
“I don’t fucking care,” I broke, yanking even harder.
Thay was massive, and I barely got an inch before I had to stop and try again.
“This is pointless,” he panted as I slid another foot, ignoring the way his blood left a thin red line across the floorboards. I knew moving him was risky, but leaving him exposed was riskier. With a shove at his window, I flung it open, crawling carefully into the rain.
“You are never,” Thay’s voice wobbled, and I could tell he was holding on like hell to consciousness. “… going to get me down this escape without killing us both.”
“This will hurt,” I warned, reaching through to pull him into the night air.
My God, it was like trying to lift a boulder in the middle of the ocean.
“Stop!” he groaned, but I couldn’t. I had to get him out of this house!
The muscles in my legs stretched until they tore, sending pain up my spine with a thousand electric shocks.
But I didn’t give up.Would not give up.
Thay bit back a muffled scream when he arched over the windowsill, half of him hanging until he dropped into the rain. It reminded me of childbirth during my time as a midwife.
I am not sure what I was now.
Dying?
Dead.
Gone.
“Goddammit, Daphne,” he balled into the fetal position when his body hit, scraping his fingers into the metal below. “This fucking hurts.”
“I know,” I leaned over, wiping the drizzle from his face, planting a kiss on his forehead. “I know, babe, but we need to get to the street. This way, the EMTs can find you. Just a little further.”