baby. “The moon sets in eight minutes, Cadence.”
“The moon sets? I don’t—” Her eyes go to the window, to the drab, dark sky, then to my hand, and finally to my face. “I had the leaf. I had it. This can’t be happening.”
“Princess,” I start.
A sob splinters out of her. I kiss her forehead.
Eight fucking minutes.
Maybe seven now.
This feels like the first night we met. When they counted down the seconds to the new year. Now, we’re counting down the minutes to the new moon.
“I . . .” I clear my throat. “I need to leave.” I clear my throat again and then get to my feet.
Although I want to go to Bastian, so I can give him one final hug and a pep talk, and then to Cadence, so I can bruise her mouth with mine, I don’t deviate from my outbound trajectory.
I don’t want anyone to see me suffer.
I don’t want their last memory of me to be tainted by me begging for mercy.
I stop on the threshold. Without turning, I utter Bastian’s name followed by the words I’ve told him so many times he’ll probably have them inscribed on my headstone: “Don’t do anything I would do.”
Shit. Will I have a headstone or will the date of Rémy Roland’s death be altered to fit my new narrative?
I tear out of the room, my boots clapping the linoleum. I nearly plow into the doc as I round the corner and barrel into the stairwell. I take the stairs two at a time until I’m on the ground floor, shoving the fire door open and tumbling forward into the hoary darkness.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I grit my teeth and wait for the torturous burning Rainier assured me would come.
Snow falls onto my clasped lids. An owl hoots in a not so distant tree. A motor rumbles.
“Slate?” De Morel’s voice echoes through the frigid air.
“Come to watch me writhe in pain, De Morel?” I turn to where he sits like a fucking incapacitated king on his snowmobile, revving it up, even though the headlight is off.
I really don’t want the last thing I see to be his smug face, so I turn around and shut my eyes, and wait for the pain.
And wait for it.
And wait for it.
It doesn’t come.
I crack open an eyelid to see if I died without realizing it.
The stone wall of the clinic’s still there, a pale blemish against the night, and so is the pile of cigarette butts in the standing chrome ashtray beside the door, and so is the rumble of the snowmobile.
It’s hard to believe, but Bastian must’ve been off his game.
I lift my hand to swear at the cursed Bloodstone for dragging this out. The ruby gem is a dull burgundy, the color of the wine bottle I left behind in Amandine’s crypt.
Amandine, who tried to save me.
“You foiled a lot of things, Slate.” The motor revs louder.
I swallow thickly, fingers cold, numbed by fear and frost.
Molars gritted, I turn back to face Rainier. I want to push him off his snowmobile, drag his limp ass to the roof, and shove him off there. But I think of Cadence. I can’t do that to her.
“She just woke up. Your daughter just woke up.”
He freezes, his thumb slackening on the throttle. The motor still rumbles, but no longer as though Rainier was about to ram his sleek black ride into me.
My knuckles feel stiff. I spread my fingers to stretch them out and get the blood flowing, however pointless that might be. The band dips on my finger, and then the heavy stone drags it down.
Over the knuckle.
Over the nail.
And into the snow.
Epilogue
CADENCE
“Slate!” I screech as I shove the clinic door open. “Slate!”
It takes my eyes a second to adjust to the darkness, to spot his broad body, his hunched shoulders, his bowed neck, his downturned face. Next to him sits Papa on his snowmobile.
“Slate!” I leap into the snow, barefoot, my thin hospital gown flapping. Six quick strides, and I reach them. “How dare you leave like that!” I shove his shoulder. “How dare you, Slate Ardoin.”
I don’t want to cry, but tears roll down my cheeks. I’m about to lose a boy I care so much about that I can’t imagine him not existing. Not being part of my life.
His hands sweep across my wet cheeks. “Cadence . . .” His voice is soft. The tone of someone about to apologize. About to say goodbye.
“We’ll find a way, Slate. I’ll find