42. Chapter 42
Calden
Istood on the ledge, skin tingling under my shirt where our shoulders had brushed.
Half a second. Less, but my world had been reduced to that moment.
After a lifetime of false smiles and petty rivalries built on the backs of those who couldn’t give this country sons, something real, someone real, had burrowed under my skin and made a home there.
I should haul her over my shoulder and take her from this place, from this life.
But the stubborn set of her jaw and those cold eyes told me everything.
Maryn Veil would not be moved from her path. Not unless someone erased the path altogether.
The relief I’d felt at sharing my secret, the one I’d kept from everyone for three years, was immediately crushed by the weight of Maryn’s words. She would sacrifice herself for her mission. She’d throw her life away for the rebels’ cause.
I couldn’t let her. Wouldn’t let her.
A scraping sound from inside her room had me glancing up. Another thump and my body moved before my mind did. Three years of training every reaction out of myself, but with one sound from that room, I was already climbing.
I glanced around the space, spying two pairs of legs flailing wildly on the other side of the bed.
In four long strides, I was across the room, tearing Lydia off Maryn.
She swung a blade, nearly catching my cheek. I grabbed it, relishing the bite of sharp steel on my palm as I tore it from her grasp and tossed it to the floor.
Her eyes were wild as she clawed at me, trying desperately to scratch or bite. Behind her, Maryn coughed and sputtered, struggling to sit up.
Lydia’s nail caught my cheek, dragging a line of fire across it. I wrapped a hand around her wrist, grabbing the other and pinning them together.
“Be still,” I hissed.
She flailed in my grip, twisting her wrist at an odd angle; the crack that followed made me wince. But she didn’t cry out, didn’t even slow as she brought her elbow up, knocking the underside of my chin until my teeth clacked together.
“I’m taking you to Covenant Security. Let’s go.” I dragged her toward the door, but a vicious laugh burst from her, and I glanced back.
“Go ahead! Tell them you came into a matched girl’s room.” She cackled.
My gaze darted to Maryn, still gasping on the floor.
“I should kill you.”
“Do it. It’s better than my future if I live.”
She wanted to shock me, to get a rise out of me, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with. Did Lydia think she deserved a quick death after attempting to murder my—
“Who would believe your story over mine?”
Her snide grin faltered, the color leeching from her face.
“Calden,” Maryn croaked. My name, dry and cracked on her lips, sent tiny earthquakes rocketing through my chest.
“Let’s go.” I dragged Lydia toward the door, sparing another glance at Maryn, whose eyes were pleading.
Lydia saw my distraction and, quicker than I could register, kicked out, knocking Maryn’s head into her bedpost.
The sound cracked through me like a gunshot. She slumped to the floor, eyes fluttering closed.
“Maryn.” My pulse thundered as I dropped to my knees, two fingers pressing to her temple.
Steady. I exhaled.
Lydia darted past me, not to the door, but to the discarded knife.
My fist connected with her wrist before she reached it. The knife clattered to the ground.
She was stronger than I'd anticipated. Her shove sent me back, the floor knocking the air from my lungs, her weight landing on my chest a moment later. Fingers closed around my throat.
I hadn't planned for this. Lydia dead created problems I didn't have time for.
My fingers found the knife anyway. The handle was solid, cold.
I drove it in and felt the give—that wrong, unmistakable resistance before the body stops fighting.
She slumped against me, her weight settling like a stone. Hot blood soaked into my shirt, sticky against my skin.
I shoved her off, touching her neck. Nothing.
Lydia lay face down, crimson pooling around her.
“Calden,” Maryn wheezed.
I slid a hand under her head. She was so light. Like something wild that had never belonged in a cage. Yet I had left her in one. Her skin was colder than it should be, the bruising at her throat already darkening. I had to look away from it to think straight.
I held up two fingers. “How many do you see?”
Her nose wrinkled as she squinted. “Four.”
I would have given anything to hear her say two.
“You need to see a doctor.”
“No,” she breathed. Her hands lifted, wrapping around my fingers. “Is she dead?”
I nodded.
Her eyes were still unfocused. My heart threw itself against my ribs.
“You have to get rid of the body.”
A dry, brittle sound escaped me. “How will you explain what happened to you?”
Some of the fog seemed to lift. “Bring my tablet?”
I found it on her table and set it in her upturned palm. She touched the screen, thumb hovering over the emergency button.
“You have to leave.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.” I brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “I’ll stay until someone comes.”
Her dilated eyes narrowed. “Are you an idiot?”
For you, yes. Always.
I exhaled a shaky laugh. “At least let me help you sit up.”
She nodded, wrapping clammy fingers around my arm and pressing a hand to the floor.
Slowly, I lifted her head, eyes darting between her pupils, her mouth.
“Okay?”
She dipped her chin a fraction, but even that movement cost her, and she groaned. Her eyes found mine, and she touched the side of her head lightly. I winced as she hissed and dropped her hand.
It was already swelling.
“Don’t try to move. Wait for them to get here.” I searched her face. “Promise.”
She tried to nod; thought better of it. “Yes.”
I eased my hand out from under her head, sitting back on my heels.
“Calden?”
I reached for the scrap of blue silk discarded on the floor. “Yeah?”
“Go.”
Lifting her wrist, I pressed my lips to her knuckles and wrapped the ribbon around it, looping it into a bow. I settled my mouth against my ribbon, and inhaled. Honey and oats.
“Call them now.”
“When you’re outside.”
I stepped over the body, careful not to leave any bloody footprints, and surveyed the scene for signs that anyone had been there besides Lydia and Maryn. Finding nothing, I climbed through the window.
I didn’t look back. If I did, I’d never leave.