Reese saw Lyonell slip into one of the alcoves inside the tent and followed.

  This had dragged on long enough.

  Inside, he cowered behind two guards.

  Reese studied them for a moment.

  They stared back.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Lyonell said.

  “You speared Luca.” She gestured to one of the guards and he smiled.

  “I did.”

  “And you.” She turned to the other one. “You held me back while your friend dragged him off.”

  They were the same guards. Trusted ones it seemed.

  With one swipe, both of their necks opened with rivers of blood.

  Two and three.

  Reese was starting to feel queasy, but she had to be brave just a little longer.

  “You killed them, it over.” Lyonell gave a nervous laugh.

  “No, it’s not.” Reese wiped the blood off on her sleeve.

  She had him cornered.

  There was nowhere else for him to run.

  A thud sounded behind her and she whirled, fearing Luca’s blood loss had finally caught up with him.

  Instead, she watched the blood pool around Flynn’s body. She hadn’t even realized he was there, judging by Luca’s shocked expression, neither had he.

  What was even more surprising was the little hands holding the dagger that had ended him. Wrenly’s hands were covered in blood. She didn’t tremble or cry, she just looked up at Reese. “Do it.”

  “Oh good, he’s been bothering me for a few decades now.” Lyonell sighed.

  With a flick of her wrist, Lyonell was silenced.

  Four.

  It was as easy as that.

  “Where’s your sister?” Reese asked.

  “One of the guards-” Tears pooled in the little girl’s eyes.

  “Is he dead?” Reese asked.

  Wrenly nodded, tears running down her cheeks.

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  “Good.”

  Luca groaned and pressed a hand to his wound. His hand came away slick with blood.

  He needed patched up, and quickly, but Reese could smell smoke.

  She glanced back into the part of the tent that had been on fire to see that the canvas had caught.

  “We have to go, now. Follow me.” Reese wrapped an arm around Luca to help him out.

  He draped his arm across her shoulder and took one look at his brother’s body. “Let him burn, I want to live.”

  Reese didn’t think she‘d ever hear those words.

  The three of them made their way out of the burning tent together.

  Before long, Reese and Luca crumpled to the ground.

  Her adrenaline wasn’t pumping as much as it had been. The shock and weariness were beginning to catch up to her, but she couldn’t rest now.

  “You can launch a guillotine blade off its rails, but you can’t carry me a couple hundred feet?” Luca laughed.

  Blood gushed from his wound with the movement.

  “Stop that.” Reese scolded.

  She ripped strips from the hem of her dress to use as bandages before she gingerly peeled his shirt up. The wound was still bleeding, which wasn’t a good sign. She wadded up one of the strips of fabric and pressed it to the wound.

  “If you wanted me undressed, little sparrow, all you had to do was ask.” He smiled.

  Reese glared at him before she glanced at Wrenly.

  She had stopped crying. “What?” She asked. “I knew you two were together, I’m honestly surprised it took this long to hear something of that nature. Myla and Theresa are talking like that all the time.”

  “We’re not-”

  Reese cut herself off as Luca winced. “Sorry.” She mumbled.

  She didn’t have enough in her to even begin to process all of what Wrenly had said.

  “We’re not what?” He asked.

  “It’s not important. We need to get this taken care of.” When she was satisfied, he wasn’t going to bleed through the fabric, she started to tie the other strips together and wrap them around him.

  “What I need is a distraction from this pain,” he said. “Finish your sentence.”

  “We’re not together. Is that what you wanted me to hear me say?” She demanded.

  “No, it’s not.”

  Reese looked up at him. “Then what did you want me to say?”

  “That we’re not talking like that, we’re not Myla and Theresa. Anything, but what you said.”

  Reese could feel Luca’s hand on her waist. She wasn’t sure when it had gotten there.

  “There are children present.” Reese whispered.

  She didn’t even know what he was trying to do.

  He had made it very clear that he only wanted her because Lyonell did.

  And now, Lyonell was dead.

  He didn’t have to keep pretending.

  And yet, he didn’t let go of her as she tied a final knot in the bandages to keep it secure. She carefully pulled his shirt back down over her work. The blood was already starting to dry on it, there would be no way to save the shirt, but she got the feeling Luca wouldn’t mind it.

  “What do we do now?” Wrenly asked. Her eyes were on the fire that still blazed down the road.

  “I don’t know,” Reese said.

  She couldn’t leave them like this. She didn’t even know if Wrenly had family outside of Raya. Where would she go? What would happen to her?

  And Luca wouldn’t get far on his own.

  And it wasn’t safe on land, Reese had learned that much.

  “We wait,” Luca said.

  “What?” Reese glanced back over at him.

  “We wait, and we watch. Eventually people will come out of that tent, not all of them want to die. The others that came with you, they’ll be out. They need to know where to go next,” he said.

  “I doubt they’ll want to see me. They think I’m a monster.” Reese sighed.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a monster this pretty,” he said.

  The butterflies Reese had tried so hard to tamp down were back. She hated how easily they were summoned by his words.

  He was only being nice to her so she didn’t leave him to die. She knew that. She knew he didn’t want her.