“Daphne,” Nathem started slowly. “Thayor didn’t do thistoyou. He did thisforyou.”
Fucking semantics.
“If Thay had lived, he would have died as Threx. On death row or in a ditch, hunted for the rest of his life, while you both what? Ran? Together? Yeah right. Wolfe was careful about not implicating the club, but those two were in it too far to ever walk away.”
A shiver ran down my spine, sending a strange sensation through my nerves.
And then I remembered. Everything.
“Wolfe!” I cried, the dam keeping him alive inside me finally breaking. “I saw him, Nate. I saw his shoes!”
“Listen to me,” he pulled me closer. “Wolfe died a fucking hero, and he deserved more than the wall. Don’t remember him that way. You remember the man who loved you, got it? The one who stopped and picked flowers off the side of the damn road because you loved the way they looked in the sunlight.”
I nodded, reaching for him in my mind.
“Marianne drew a line. Told Wolfe that he either marry her and go along with her plans to turn Thay into her sex slave slash weapon while you watched, and send our club to work in trafficking… or we all die.”
“No,” I breathed.
“He thought you were in Maine, so he took the shot. He knew what it meant. He knew what he was dying for. And for the first time in his life, no one owned him.” Nathem shifted. “And he left you everything, Daphne. All clean money. It is close to a million dollars. His lawyer’s been hanging around for days. You’ll probably see him soon.”
I didn’t want his money. I wantedhim.
“Where is Thay’s body?” Another wave of tears hit, stealing the air from my lungs.
He couldn’t be dead.
“He asked the doctor to put your heart in his chest. He and the guys were cremated yesterday.”
That one nearly took me out, my vision slipping at the thought of him carrying me into the Undying Lands.
“They’re over there,” he said, pointing to four square tins broken up by color.
I reached for the ones that were mine, and Nathem didn’t ask. He just moved Thay and Wolfe to either side of me as I turned into him, letting myself collapse into his arms.
“I want his sketches. The things from his room.”
Lightning crashed. Blood filled my mouth.
“All in storage, babe,” Nathem said softly. “Listen… when you get out of here, I want you to come to Ireland with me.” He searched my face for something that wasn’t there anymore. “I think we both need time to heal, and I need to get the fuck out of Seattle.”
I traced the bruises and burns along his neck, wondering if it was the injury that took his voice, or something deeper.
“You know I can’t live without him,” I said, broken. Not even real.
“You don’t have to,” he leaned closer. “Daphne, he’s living inside you. Moving your blood. Keeping you alive. And he will keep doing that until your last breath, just the way he always wanted.”
I hated that he was right. Hated Thay even more for knowing I would never do anything to hurt him. That he gave me his fucking heart and no way to die.
“Don’t take that from him. This is his chance at a real life.”
“That is fucking Hallmark bullshit and you know it,” I sobbed, the taste in my mouth nothing but salt.
“No, it’s not,” Nathem said quietly. “Wolfe was the cage. He was the world we lived in, and in the end, he made sure yours was protected. And Thay…” his voice broke slightly, “Thay was your metronome. Your body. Your soul. He gave you a chance at a world without darkness. A chance he always wanted for himself and only ever found in you. No one gets out of the Underworld, Daphne. And he did.”
He held my gaze.
“Don’t shit on that because you’re sad, babe. All three of you died that night. And maybe this isn’t the ending you wanted… but it’s the only one where all three of you live.”