Maybe because she was his heart. . . .
Savitar took it from him and opened it up to look at the photo of her and her brothers. That picture had seen him through hell and he didn't need to look at it anymore. It was as engraved in his soul as her smile, touch, and smell.
He held it out to Fang. "Something you want to tell me about you and the bearswan?"
For the first time, Fang saw that Aimee had added a picture of him to her locket that covered the engraved words, and that almost succeeded in breaking him. Hell, he'd forgotten about it even being made. It was one Aimee had shot of him behind Sanctuary one afternoon when he'd been taking a break. She'd come out of nowhere to surprise him and snap the photo.
"Look!" she'd said, laughing, as she showed him the photo on the back of her camera. "I love when you look at me like that. I can see your heart in your eyes."
His hair, which he'd grown out only because she liked it that way, had been windblown and he had the dumbest look imaginable on his face-like some lovesick moron. "I look stupid."
"You look gorgeous." She'd given him one of the hottest kisses he'd ever had. "And it makes me want to take a bite out of you."
"That I don't mind. But for the sakes of the gods, delete that thing before you lose your camera again and someone else sees what a friggin' goober I am."
She'd stuck her tongue out at him before she'd danced off, her tight ass teasing him even more than her kiss had.
Gods, to have that one moment back. . . .
Why hadn't she listened to him and deleted the damn thing? Now, in the last moments of his life, Savitar of all fucks would see what a schmuck he really was.
But the important part was that she'd added his picture to the locket she always wore close to her heart. Not that he had any doubts about her feelings for him, but that showed him exactly how much he meant to her.
Love and regret welled up hard inside him. In that moment, all he wanted was to run back to her.
Give me strength. . . .
He cleared his throat of the tight lump. "Nothing to say." But he held an image of Aimee in his mind as he lay his head down on the block and waited to die. Closing his eyes, he felt the sword lower slowly down to touch the skin of his neck.
A shiver ran over him. Why wouldn't they just kill him and get it over with?
The blade rubbed against his skin before it lifted up. The demon inside screamed out in panic as it realized what was about to happen.
They were both about to die.
Get up. Fight! Run!
But Fang held steady. This was for his brother and for Aimee. He wouldn't turn craven and risk their lives. Not for anything as worthless as his own hide.
"All right," Savitar said. "Kill him."
In that moment, Fang let out a curse as something inside him ruptured. It felt like he was being shredded. The pain was excruciating as blood began pouring out of his nose. He was trying to keep his head on the block, but it was getting harder and harder as it felt like acid was crawling up his esophagus and exploding through his skull. The pressure of it knocked him flat on his back.
Savitar and the executioner put their knees on his shoulders to hold him down.
Fang cried out as something hard and painful flew out of his mouth. It shot up, then splintered into a million pieces that fell down over them.
As soon as it did, the two of them released him. Fang panted as the pain subsided and his nose stopped bleeding. Scowling at them, he wiped it away.
The executioner laughed as he pulled his helm off. It was Thorn. "Bet that was some wicked indigestion, huh?"
"What the fuck are you two doing?"
Thorn swung the sword up to rest on his shoulder. "Getting the demon out of you, dumbass. I figured you'd had about enough of him."
Bewildered by the unexpected change of fortune, Fang looked back and forth between them. Was this another head game they were playing with him? Until he knew for sure, he wasn't getting up. "I don't understand."
Savitar dropped the locket on his chest. "The easiest, and I use that word with all due sarcasm, way to get Phrixis out of you required an act of unspeakable altruism. I threatened your brother's life and you came, ready to die to protect him."