Chapter 21 Penny
PENNY
It almost worked. He almost talked me into leaving him behind, into saving myself and giving him the martyrdom he wanted. The meeting with his brothers was the final touch and a clever one—how could I refuse his dying wish?
By not letting him die, of course. Yeah, but to hide behind that technicality, I had to figure out how to save him.
Getting him back onto the skimmer was out of the question and just got us back where we started.
Even Varok, tough as he was, couldn’t survive long with the wounds he’d sustained fighting the predators.
Whatever I did, I’d have to do it fast.
The icy chill seeped into my bones as I tried to think, but it was useless. I’d already used all my clever ideas, so planning our way out wasn’t plausible. What did that leave?
Stupid ideas. The wild-ass, seat-of-the-pants solutions I hated. I looked at the darkening sky, took a deep breath of frozen air, and thought.
You aren’t the only one who can play the self-sacrifice card, Varok. He lay slumped against the skimmer, and I wondered if he’d ever move again. The thought was like a knife to my heart, worse than any pain the cold could inflict.
Even my bad plans seemed hopeless. Only one too awful to contemplate stood a chance of working. I reached for the whisperlight and prayed.