I told him I loved him? “I can’t love you, Nine.”
It’s funny how things work. I blink, pulling myself from my own head and focusing on his concerned gaze. He has beautiful black eyes…When light hits them from the right angle, they light up like the sky at night. I wonder if he knows that. I wonder if anyone has looked at him long enough to notice. I doubt he’d let anyone, even if they wanted to.
Maybe he’s telling the truth. Maybe he does love me, but a whisper is hardly convincing.
Vince’s loud, hoarse voice is background noise to the sound of my thudding heart. At least it still works.
“You should go,” I croak, pulling against my chain. “People are staring.”
I wince as sharp bits of metal cut the sensitive flesh on my wrists.
“You think I care how they see me?”
His soft fingers fall from my face and my chin drops to my chest. I grunt, my limbs trembling under my own weight. Still, even in my depleted state, I manage to hold myself up. It might not mean anything to a Fortunate, but to stand on my own two feet, when all I want to do is curl up into a ball and cry, means the world to me. A subtle act of defiance in my last moment. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I lift my face, angling it up so my eyes lock with his and I manage a shrug.
“You care too much, Fortunate.”
His irises darken as his eyes grow thin. Warning flares in every one of his features and noticeably tightens his body. His offense reaches the tips of his fingers, curling them into frustrated fists.
“Go awa—”
His mouth crashes to mine and the collective gasps of everyone around us fades as the rapid slam of my heart against my ribs becomes the dominant sound. It thumps in my ears and pounds my brain. His damp lips moisten mine and the pain from the cracks subsides. In that moment, a sudden panic overtakes me, taking up space in my lungs. Caught up in the moment, caught up in the only person who loves me for who I am, I no longer want to die.
He pulls away and the pain I previously felt seeps back into my bones and muscles, and my anger slams into me full force. Screw Kade. Screw all of these people.
“Now tell me I care too much about what everyone else thinks.”
I frown at him, the subtle movement causing my entire body to ache. “If I remain an Unfortunate, they’ll kill you for that.”
He shrugs his broad, powerful shoulders. “Then I look forward to doing it again in the afterlife.”
My heart stutters, causing my lips to quiver. “You’d hold on for that long?”
“Longer.” His intense stare softens, his eyes filling with compassion. “I’d hold on to us until this world fades into the next.”
“And when that world dissolves into another?”
“Eternity is a long time, but it’d never change how I feel about you.”
I open my mouth, but the sudden, cold tip of a rifle presses against my temple. In the blink of an eye Kade’s arm is outstretched, his face pinched into an angry glare. I let my gaze follow the length of his long, thick arm. At the end of it, held tightly by his clenched hand, is a gun.
A scary, silver gun.
Panic rushes over the crowd, but they don’t run. Almost immediately, I feel their adrenaline crackle in the air as their fear converts to excitement.
“The results are being read. I’m following orders.”
The voice sends familiar shivers down my spine and I hate it. Out of all the Moderators to bury a bullet in my skull, why does it have to be Soyer?
“Follow orders when she’s condemned. You’re putting the tip of your gun against something a hell of a lot more valuable than your miserable life. Remove it before I paint the wood with your brain.”
“You wouldn’t,” he states, the smile in his voice deafeningly loud.
Kade flicks his thumb over the top of his gun and pulls back the hammer. As it clicks into place, his jaw tightens. “Try me.”
I keep my stare on Kade’s face. Too scared to turn and face Soyer.
“Lower the gun, Soyer, before my brother embarrasses my family any further.”
I shiver at Vince’s dark, empty tone and when the cold metal of Soyer’s gun falls from my temple, I turn to look at Vince. In his large hands, he toys with the corners of a piece