32. Sawyer
SAWYER
Something’s wrong with Luna.
I see it the second Aurelius distances himself. The way her knees buckle, the tremor in her jaw, the glassy sheen in her eyes. She hides it well enough that most of the Sanctum only sees defiance, but I’ve watched her too long not to know better.
The crowd doesn’t notice, not yet. They’re too busy stomping, too busy trying to convince themselves this is just another ceremony. But the sound doesn’t rise like it usually does. It’s off, ragged at the edges. No one really wants to be here.
Aurelius steps forward. Slow and deliberate. His hands raised. His voice calm. “This is not vengeance, my children. This is balance. By trial, we purge corruption. By trial, we grow stronger.”
He circles Luna like a vulture.
She sways on her feet but straightens her spine to meet him head-on. She looks like she always has—stone-faced, untouchable. But I see the way her fingers twitch, like she’s fighting her own body just to stay upright.
My stomach plummets.
He lunges first.
A hard strike across her jaw sends her staggering. She catches herself, barely. Her hair falls like a veil across her face.
The crowd murmurs. Someone near me whispers, “What’s wrong with her?” Their tone isn’t triumphant. It’s fearful.
I clench my fists as my teeth grind. Another hit lands, this one across her ribs, the sound cracking even over the stomp of feet. She doesn’t cry out, doesn’t even wince, but she moves slower when she steadies herself. Too slow.
“Get up!” I shout when she drops to her knees after a brutal kick to the thigh. My voice tears out of me before I can stop it, raw and desperate.
Her head snaps toward the sound. Our eyes lock. For just a second, I see the girl in the cave, defiant even in chains. The Luna who stared me down and said she’d never break.
A Keeper steps in front of me when I push toward the circle. He shakes his head once, low and firm. I shove against him, but two more move in with iron grips on my arms.
I could fight them. I want to fight them. But I can’t get to her without being cut off before I take three steps.
Angel’s already gone. He took Luna’s cat with him and is supposed to meet us two towns over where he’ll call the police. It’ll be hours before they show up, even if everything goes right. There’s no cavalry coming.
It’s just her.
Luna staggers back to her feet. Her chest heaves and her eyes blaze even as her body betrays her. Aurelius grips her by the throat and twists until she crumples to her knees again.
There isn’t a chance that anyone believes she’s truly beat.
“He did something to her!” I yell to the crowd. But no mob forms. Confusion is all around, but no one is brave enough to stop this.
I crouch low against the barrier of Keepers. My voice breaks across the circle. “For them, Luna!” I point to the crowd. “For me!”
Her lips part. Her fingers curl.
And something shifts in her eyes.
Her body jolts like she’s been struck by lightning.
In one sharp twist, she slams her heel down on Aurelius’s foot. His grunt is sharp, guttural, and the chokehold around her neck loosens. She surges upward with a force I didn’t think she had left and drives her elbow into his ribs.
The crowd gasps, and a ripple cuts through the unease like a spark to dry grass.
Aurelius stumbles back a step, clutching his side. His eyes flare with shock before narrowing into a cold, deadly smile. But the people aren’t smiling. For the first time tonight, they cheer—not for him. For her.
I see it in their faces, the relief, the hope. They want her to win.
She shakes out her arms and steadies herself. She’s still weak, I can tell, but her movements are sharper now. Angrier. Her jaw locks, her eyes focused like steel.
“Come on,” I whisper under my breath. My fists turn white against the Keepers’ arms.
They circle each other. Aurelius lunges again, but this time she sidesteps and lands a solid blow to his shoulder. He reels back. The cheers rise louder.
He doesn’t understand. His people aren’t his anymore. Not really.
Something silver glints at the edge of his sleeve as he cocks his arm in a way that draws a sharp breath into my lungs.
No.
Before she can block, he slashes it across her arm. Bright-red blood sprays against the snow-packed ground. She stumbles, clutching the wound, and collapses hard onto her side.
The crowd cries out—fearful, furious.
I roar and shove against the Keepers. “Let go of me!”
They hold firm. Two more steps in. I’m caged. Helpless. Watching her bleed on the ground while her father stands over her like a king over conquered land.
“He’s cheating!” As if they don’t already know. “Somebody fucking do something!”
Aurelius yanks her head back by her hair. “This ends now,” he bellows, loud enough for everyone to hear. He raises the shard high.
“Luna!” My knees try to buckle; my vision blurs with fury. “Get the fuck up! Get up!”
She does.
Her body jerks like some unseen hand pulled her strings. With a feral sound ripping from her throat, she twists under him, grabs his wrist, and slams it to his knees. The shard drops and skitters away.
Before Aurelius can react, she crooks an arm around his neck and squeezes. His roar cuts off and his eyes bulge. His face turns red, then purple.
The crowd erupts. Not with joy. With something rawer. Relief.
He claws at her arms, then frantically reaches behind. He finds her hair and yanks, but she doesn’t let go. Even when he manages to rake his nails down her cheek, she holds on.
And I see it, the moment he realizes he’s lost. His mouth falls open, a strangled wheeze the only sound left in him. His eyes roll. His body shudders.
Then stills.
The silence hits like a wave.
The roar of the crowd dies in an instant, snuffed out as Aurelius’s body slumps against Luna. His body falls forward and drags her down with him. They crash to the ground together, his forehead slamming into snow.
No one moves. No one breathes.
I swear I can hear the blood dripping from Luna’s arm as it paints the frozen earth.
She stays there, straddling his back, her hand still locked around his throat long after he’s gone. She’s panting so hard her whole frame trembles, and for one terrifying moment, she doesn’t look like she knows how to stop.
“Luna…” I strain against the Keepers.
Finally, her arm loosens. She rolls off and collapses onto her back. A ragged sob tears from her lungs, though her lips never part.
The Keepers release me. Maybe because the ceremony’s over. Maybe because they don’t want to be the ones to drag me away now. I stumble forward, my knees almost giving out as I cross into the circle.
I’m at her side in an instant. I rip off my coat and press fabric to the slice on her arm, but it isn’t that deep. She’s weakened by whatever Aurelius gave her but not bleeding out.
“Luna.” My hand finds her shoulder and cups her face to turn her toward me. Her eyes are glassy and unfocused. The strength she summoned seconds ago is already gone.
“You did it,” I murmur, pressing my forehead against hers. “You fucking did it.”
The crowd is still silent, a wall of stunned faces. Some look horrified, some relieved, some too numb to know what they feel. Not a soul cheers. Not one voice rises to celebrate.
This is their greatest victory.
But all anyone feels is loss.
Luna’s lips part, but no words come out. She blinks, slow, heavy, her lashes wet. When she closes her eyes, I rub my thumb hard along her cheek.
“Stay with me,” I rasp, my thumb brushing her temple. My throat feels like it’s been laid with wet cement. “You can’t sleep yet, sweetheart. We don’t know what he gave you.”
Don’t ask the question.
Don’t think about it.
Did he mean to weaken, or did he mean to kill her?
“Fuck,” I groan, my eyes clenching shut as my head turns away. My heart pounds so furiously, it’s a physical ache, but it only clutches me for a moment. I open my eyes, blink hard, and look at her with the utmost confidence in my expression.
You’re fine.
Everything’s going to be okay.
A murmur ripples through the crowd, then another. My head jerks up. People are looking at each other, confused, alarmed. Then I hear it too—far off, but closing fast.
Sirens.
The sound pierces the solemnness like fireworks.
Panic erupts. The square fractures as people bolt in every direction. Screams, shouts, frantic prayers. Mothers screaming for their children, Keepers shoving past one another. It’s chaos. Pure chaos.
“Time to go,” I whisper, scooping Luna into my arms. Her body folds against mine, limp and hot despite my jacket covering her. Blood smears my shirt, but the bleeding has slowed.
Her lashes flutter weakly. She tries to say my name, but it comes out as a broken breath.
I hold her tighter and turn toward the forest. Toward the tunnel. Toward anywhere that isn’t here.
Because the cops are coming, and if I don’t move now, we’re both dead.
The square dissolves into madness.
I weave around the swarm of bodies, Luna cradled against my chest. People slam into me in their panic, but I don’t let Luna slip. My elbows jab, my shoulder drives forward. I move like a plow through snow to carve a path.
The sirens swell louder, closer, until they drown out the shouts. Red and blue light flickers against the trees at the edge of the compound and paints the snow in violent colors.
Hurry.
I angle toward the Keep, lungs burning, boots sliding over frozen ground. Luna stirs against me, a faint groan rattling from her throat. Her hand curls weakly at my chest.
“Almost there,” I murmur, breathless. “Hold on, pretty girl. Just hold on.”
The Keep looms ahead, dark against the flashing sky. But the closer I get, the worse the air tastes. Acrid. Sharp.
Smoke.
My stomach drops.
When I round the side of the building, my fear is confirmed. The air is black with it. Smoke pours from the broken windows and spills from the roofline in greedy plumes.
“Fuck,” I hiss, chest heaving.
I carry Luna to the tunnel entrance and try to decide if it’s a death sentence. I know too well the ruins left when a mansion burns. When the roof engulfs, it could—will—catch on a tree. The forest could be eaten within the hour.
But smoke rises.
The leaf-covered board hides the entrance. Made of wood.
If it catches fire…
I drop to my knees, lowering Luna beside me, bracing her head against my thigh. She coughs weakly as if the smoke is already irritating her lungs.
Think.
I yank up the board and sink it into snow. Cold bites at my hands as I pile the board as high as I can with nature's best protection. How fucking ironic that it’s my least favorite thing in the world that’s going to save our lives.
When I’m finished with the board, I rip my shirt over my head and plunge it into the snow, grinding it down until the fabric is soaked and freezing. I wring it once, then press it over Luna’s nose and mouth.
“To help you breathe,” I tell her, though she can’t hear me.
With one last glance at the Keep, I tuck Luna inside the tunnel, her limp body sprawling on the dirt floor. Then I get in after her and drag the board back into place, sealing us in shadow.
I breathe in as deeply as I can. The air is stale—but there’s only the faintest trace of smoke, probably what’s stuck in my nostrils.
I press close to Luna, our bodies fitting awkwardly in the cramped crawl space. Her lashes flicker, her jaw twitches under the wet fabric. I pull her tighter to me, my forehead against hers.
“You’re safe,” I whisper, though my voice shakes. “We’re safe.”
The earth presses in on every side. Damp walls scrape my shoulders, and the ceiling dips so low I can’t lift my head all the way. My knees dig into cold dirt, my arms locked around Luna.
Her breath is shallow against my chest, warm even through the soaked fabric. Each rise and fall feels too fragile, like it could stop any second. I adjust the cloth to ensure it isn’t sticking to her mouth and nose. My hand is miraculously steady.
“Stay with me,” I whisper. “Just keep breathing. That’s all you gotta do. In, out, easy.”
She tenses. Just barely.
“It’s all right,” I murmur, brushing my nose to her temple. “It’s okay now. You’re safe. I’ve got you. I’ll always have you.”
For a beat, nothing. Then her jaw works beneath my palm.
“Sawyer…”
I shut my eyes as relief crashes through me. My hand drags over her hair, tangling in the strands, holding her head steady. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
She shifts against me, her lips moving under the fabric. I tug it aside.
Her voice is stronger this time, a whisper carving right through me. “Sawyer.”
“I’ve got you,” I say, my throat tight. “I’ve got you, baby.”
Not a shred of light spills into the tunnel, but I feel her gaze anyway.
And then she says it. Soft, but clear. “I love you.”
I close my eyes. There’s a swell in my chest, so strong it hurts.
My lips tremble against her hair as I kiss her. “I know,” I whisper, voice cracking. “I know, pretty girl. I love you too.”
Her body slackens in my arms. Panic claws at me until I feel the faint, steady rhythm of her chest against mine.
I hug her tight and kiss the top of her head, rocking us both in the cramped dark like I can will her to stay alive. “Everything’s gonna be okay,” I promise. “I swear it. I’m gonna give you the whole world.”
It’s minutes before the sound of raised voices filters into the tunnel. A dog barks and boots stomp just outside.
But in here, in this fragile bubble of dirt and shadow, it’s just Luna and me.
I’ll burn the rest of the world before I let her go.