Chapter Seventeen
………………………….
Ily
PETER AND I STUMBLED OUT of the burning castle just in time to see Henri slaughter a Master, all while a guard tried to hack him with a kitchen knife. Ben fired his machine gun, clipping the guard, who ran away into the smoky air.
Not pausing to thank Ben for saving his life, Henri launched himself at another Master who shocked one jewel with his remote and suffocated another on the ground with his foot on their throat.
Henri fired point blank into the Master’s skull—transforming him from man to meat.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
The way he moved.
The carnage he left in his wake.
Blood trickled from his side, soaking into a pair of jeans gaping around his too-lean waist. The way he fought seemed utterly impossible for a man who’d been starved and beaten for so long. His back a massacre of whip marks, his fury carving him with vengeance.
Peter sucked in a breath as Henri dispatched Ferdinand, snatching the machete out of the Master’s hands and hacking through his neck. His swing was so vicious, so powerful, Ferdinand’s head tipped back, held on by a few strands of gristle.
All around me, Masters fought with weapons stolen from the armoury walls. Jewels had their fair share of daggers and spears, ensuring a battle not a slaughter. Even the meekest of jewels who’d barely looked at me when I first arrived now screamed and stabbed like animals.
Pride swelled my heart to bursting.
Love warmed like a million suns.
Gratefulness and hope, joy and—
“Come on. I have to get you out of here so I can fight with them.” Peter grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the mayhem.
“No, wait.” I tripped as a wave of faintness shrouded my eyesight.
I staggered and shook my head.
No. Not now.
I didn’t have time for this.
I needed to fight.
I have to .
Peter dragged me farther away from the castle. The arctic blizzard that now lived in my veins made me shiver so badly my teeth chattered.
But I didn’t care.
I was fine.
I’m alive.
And if I didn’t help keep the other jewels alive, I’d never forgive myself. “Paavak…”
“This way.” Peter caught me as I tripped into him again. “Just a little further. You can hide behind the fountain and—”
“No. I’m not hiding. No way.”
“Well, you’re not fucking fighting, that’s for damn sure.”
“Stop being so overprotective!”
“Stop being such a stubborn ass!”
My ears rang.
Blackness curtained my mind.
My heart flurried far too fast, my breathing short and thin. “Peter, please…I have to help.”
“You’re helping by staying out of the way.”
Swallowing hard, I shoved away the dizziness, the fatigue, and dug my heels in. “I’m not going to sit this out. I need to help!”
Whirling on me, he growled. “I’m not debating this with you , jaanu . You’ve lost too much blood—”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re a liability!”
Hurt cut through me. I blinked.
H-He’s right.
“Shit, I didn’t mean…” Letting me go, he scrubbed his face with one hand and leaned heavily on his sword’s handle, the stabby end piercing the grass. “I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worrying about you.”
I wanted to agree with him, but stubbornness made me whisper, “You’re hardly in a state to fight yourself.” I reached for his arm. “You’re barely standing.”
“That’s why I need you far away so I can do what I can even though it’s not much.”
I smiled sadly, suddenly understanding my wonderful friend. “Killing yourself for them is stupid, Paavak…not noble.”
He flinched. But didn’t say I was wrong.
My heart skipped strangely, warningly. “Look, I agree that I’m a liability. I know I should hide so I don’t distract you, but…you’re just as exhausted. Yes, I’m slightly worse off, but you’re fooling yourself to think you can do this on your own. You’ll die. And…you can’t ask me to watch while you sacrifice yourself. That’s just not happening.”
He looked at the ground. “I can’t risk you, Ily.”
“You don’t get to make that choice.” I squeezed his hand. “I don’t know if we’ll win tonight, but together, we can do this. Together. We do this together . With him.”
I glanced over at Henri in the distance. He’d turned into the same ruthless hurricane when he’d protected me in the treasure hunt. He ploughed through men, leaving corpses. Grabbing jewels from the ground, he shoved them behind him as he mowed his way through every man who’d used another for his pleasure.
Stewart suddenly appeared from the burning fortress. Penelope and Abigail trailed him, streaked in soot and blood.
Another star-shuddering boom erupted. A plume of fire exploded from the main foyer, gobbling up the huge crystal chandelier and all that awful erotic artwork with greedy flames.
Scanning the battle, Stewart noticed Ben flanking Henri and charged toward them with the girls.
Shouting something over the chaos, Stewart pointed toward the battlement walls.
With smoke stinging my eyes, I peered toward the high barricade, blinded by hunting spotlights—spotlights that kept a perimeter fence between us and the walls thanks to snipers ready to slaughter us.
In the distance, the drawbridge cracked open and began to fall, opening Joyero to the night, allowing someone to escape.
I gasped.
Victor.
No.
He can’t.
Tripping toward Henri, I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, “Victor is in the battlements. He’s going to escape!”
Giving me a feral smile, Henri charged toward us. He staggered a little and pressed his elbow against the blood trickling from his side, but he seemed to glow with the firelight and hum with pure power.
“No, he won’t.” Slamming to a stop before me and Peter, he grabbed my nape with his bloody hand and smashed his mouth to mine. He kissed me roughly, violently. “I love you. Stay alive.”
Grabbing Peter in a one-armed hug, he growled, “Keep her safe. I won’t let him get away. I’ll bring him back for you to kill as agreed.”
And then he was gone, leaping over stonework and mangled guttering, running around broken tables and chairs.
Peter slinked his fingers back through mine as Henri vanished into the gardens, racing toward the open drawbridge. He held me up just as much as he leaned on me for support.
Ben and Stewart looked at each other. Stewart grabbed Pen in a quick hug. “Don’t put yourself in danger. It’s almost over.” Nodding at his business partner, they took off as one, chasing after Henri into the darkness.
Penelope and Abigail came toward us.
They smiled even though their hands and arms were covered in burns.
“What happened?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
Abby nodded. “We were on the team to light the explosives. Some were a little tricky to get right.”
“But it was worth it.” Pen beamed. “Did you see the tower come down? That was us.”
“Now’s not the time,” Peter cut in. “It’s not over yet—”
A jewel screamed in the distance, adding weight to his reprimand.
Kirk came barrelling out of the fortress, holding something heavy in his fist.
I blinked. Is that…
…Oh my God.
Pen blanched. “Fuck, Kirk is holding a head.”
Abby gagged.
Peter sucked in a breath as Kirk tossed the decapitated head into one of the many fires before throwing his arms up in glee.
“Now who’s in pain, huh?” Kirk cackled. “Burn motherfucker. Burn !”
Masters had broken the bones and spirits of so many jewels in here, but grief had been the final straw for Kirk.
My heart hurt for him.
Tears pricked for the loss of his mind as well as Suri.
Sighing heavily, Peter said, “Just a little longer, and this ends, alright?” Squeezing my hand, he nodded at all of us. “Fuck trying to fight alone. We’re all hurt and probably useless against a Master one-on-one, but…if we stick together, like Ily suggests, we can take down the ones who are left.”
Abby cried out as Kirk suddenly screamed.
We all looked as he dropped like a sack of rocks.
Ian stood over him, the sulphur of gunpowder cut through the stench of acrid fire and melting flesh.
With a smirk, he shot Kirk again.
Kirk didn’t move, his limbs bent and splayed.
God, it hurt.
All of this hurt.
The loss of good people.
The torture of so many.
“This way!” Abby and Pen broke into a run, leaving their backs exposed. “We have to go!”
Peter gave me a look. I already knew what he’d do.
Without a word, we ran toward Ian. We sprinted the short distance, and Peter raised his sword. Letting me go, he double-fisted the handle and swung.
The dark-skinned Master feinted to the side, snickering under his breath. “That the best you’ve got?”
Peter grunted and swung again, staggering with the weight.
Ian lifted his gun. “Say goodbye, Pete.”
“That might be the best he’s got.” A guard stalked out of the blazing foyer as if he was made of fire. “But not me.” With effortless grace, he raised his gun and fired.
Ian’s head snapped sideways, a bloom of blood welled on his temple and a spray of bone and brain exploded out the other side.
His body barely thudded against the grass before the guard looked at us, his gaze snagging on the sticky blood staining my chest. “The surviving jewels are being gathered in the south. Head there. Dr Belford and Rose are tending to the injured. A few guards are there to make sure you remain unharmed.”
“Are you friends with Stewart?” Peter asked.
The guard shook his head with a wince. “Nah. I’m just someone who wants freedom as much as you. I saw an opportunity, so I took it. A lot of us did.”
Another scream inside the castle.
We all swayed to help.
Light-headedness came for me again, bringing with it yet more snow in my veins.
Ignore it.
You’re fine.
My heart thudded with unsurmountable difficulty.
Each beat rocked my body with its effort.
“There’s quite a few of us now.” The guard checked how many bullets were left in his gun, then stepped back toward the fortress. “Most of the guards who are left will be on your side. We’ve been waiting for something like this for a while.”
Breaking into a run, he shouted over his shoulder. “Now go. Get out of here!”
Grabbing a tablecloth hooked on a shattered table, he wrapped it around his mouth and vanished into the smoke.
For a second, Peter and I didn’t move.
The sounds of war faded a little as opponents slowly became fewer.
All around us scattered the bodies of jewels, Masters, and guards.
Every part of my soul begged to check on the jewels. To drag them to Dr Belford and have her bring them back to life.
Only…the war wasn’t finished.
Not yet.
Giving me an exhausted smile, Peter shrugged. “Together?”
I grinned.
Spying Travis—the Master who’d been the reason we’d had to play Topaz Torment all those months ago—dead with his legs on fire, I staggered toward him and grabbed the pistol still clutched in his hand. Trading it for the dagger Peter gave me, I wasn’t prepared for the metallic weight. The toxic coldness that felt far more sinister than I could handle.
I shoved that weakness away.
“Together.” I nodded.
Peter smiled. “Okay then.”
I wished I felt stronger. Wished I was skilled at this.
But I wouldn’t give up until every last jewel was free.
“Stay behind me. We’ll do a sweep for the jewels and then take them to the south gardens.” Peter stepped around the blazing deck, flicking me a look as I fell into position behind him.
The heat pouring off the bonfire of decking, tables, and chairs, ought to warm the frost in my bones.
It only made me aware how terribly cold I was.
How this cold was different to a usual chill brought on by weather or lack of clothing.
This was internal, insidious, creeping through me at an alarming rate…almost as if pieces of me had started shutting down.
Don’t…
You’re fine.
Keep going.
Breathing hard, I followed Peter as we headed toward the less damaged wing of the fortress. Everywhere we went, stonework had been blasted off and pieces of carved angels scattered the grass in lichen-covered rubble.
Ducking to grab a gun from a dead guard, Peter traded it for his sword. Turning to face me, he went to take my hand. His eyes met mine before skittering over my shoulder.
His smile dropped to terror.
I went to look.
To stare into the calm black gardens where Henri had run off to.
Only…
A gun fired—
Peter snatched me by the shoulders and spun me around, guarding me with his body.
“ Argh !” He shuddered as a bullet tore into him.
“Peter—!”
He went stiff with agony.
His legs gave out.
Together, we fell.
Him on top of me, slamming us to the ground.
Sweet scents of grass enveloped us, erasing the hot ashy flavour of fire.
Caishen screamed and charged out of the smoke, letting a volley of bullets fly at whoever had shot us.
I couldn’t see who’d fired.
Couldn’t see apart from the stars above and Peter’s face as he panted and gasped.
“Ily…” He coughed and choked, blood frothing at the corner of his lips as he failed to catch his breath.
“No. No, no, no !” I pressed my palms against his shoulders.
I tried to push him off me.
To see what’d happened.
To help him.
Only…that coldness within me spread from a different wound.
Pain radiated in my chest.
A tiny circle of discomfort, throbbing with newness before going numb like everything else.
Nothing.
It’s nothing.
All I cared about was Peter as he choked and spewed up another trickle of blood. It landed on my cheek, rolling toward my ear.
“Paavak. Please. Don’t. Don’t do this.”
He squirmed above me.
He tried to roll off me.
He coughed and gagged and made a heart-wrenching noise of surprise. “I…I can’t move.”
The blizzard inside me built into a snow drift, burying me in thick white nothingness.
“Peter…”
“I—” He coughed again, blood pink and bubbly on his lips.
Tears seeped from my eyes as I touched his cheek. Just that tiny motion cost everything I had left. My vision grew hazy, grey…
I brought his rich brown gaze to mine. “You’re okay. We’re okay. Just—”
Caishen landed beside us. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck.” Planting his hands on Peter’s back, he pressed down hard enough to squish me into the dirt beneath Peter. “Someone help me !” He looked back at the jewels and guards, Masters and war. “He’s bleeding bad!”
But no one came.
Everything faded.
A sunburst of light appeared in the night sky. A circle of pinks and golds, whites and starshine. It glowed brighter and brighter, building and building until everything was gilded and glittering.
My heart kept beating, slower now, turning into a winter sculpture made of icicles.
I looked at Peter above me.
Peter haloed in white bright light.
And my heart no longer fought the glacial creep. It went quiet inside me. Calm inside me. The coldness that’d plagued me for so long went wonderfully warm.
“Ily…” Peter’s eyes welled with tears, his chest heaving, lips dripping in blood. “I’m—”
“I know.” The bright light above grew ever more brilliant, luminescent and iridescent, pure and home.
His hot blood seeped onto my chest.
His essence soaked into mine, stinging the matching hole within me.
The hole where everything faded, quieted, slowed…
We stopped fighting the fear, the instinct, the pain.
We looked at each other one last time.
I wished I could’ve said goodbye to Henri.
To tell him not to worry.
To promise him this wasn’t the end.
But as more jewels crashed around us and hands tried to staunch Peter’s bleeding, I sighed with acceptance that this was always the way it was meant to be.
I’d come here to save them.
I’d done my very best.
This life was not in vain.
It was blessed.
I sighed as I floated into a warm, cloaking comfort.
Death was so warm and soft and happy.
Death was goodbye and hello, an ending and a new beginning. A changing of garments from one form to the next…
And as that white light claimed everything and the tangible world shattered into diamond dust, Peter pressed his bloody lips to mine, and together…
…we were finally free.