Our blades were cut and sharpened so that cutting through bone and flesh was as easy as slicing soft butter. If I even breathed heavily his sword would sink deeper into my skin.
I didn’t expect him to, but he was hesitating. It probably shouldn’t have, but his pause gave me hope. In the depth of eyes so crazed and confused, I could have sworn I saw some kind of recognition.
“Seth,” I whispered, losing the tough-girl act and reaching desperately for the love that still infused every molecule in my body. “I love you.”
He winced and closed his eyes as if in real pain. His sword never left my throat but I felt his resolve stutter.
“I do love you,” I promised. “Only you.”
“You don’t love me,” he grated. “You would never tell me that now, if you did. You would know better.”
“I told you before, in the forest. Remember?” His eyebrows fused together and he just looked at me. I shook my head, and the sword bit into my neck deeper. “And I have to tell you now. If this is my last chance, I have to tell you.”
Confusion laced with guilt flashed in his expression. Even like this, even distorted by the torturous existence he was suffering and raging with a hate he didn’t understand, he was beautiful. Perfect. Lost. I ached for him in ways that had nothing to do with fear or resentment. My entire body cried out to him, pleaded with him to stop this. And surprisingly my desperate need for him not to kill me had nothing to do with my life, or my desire to stay alive. But everything to do with Seth and his soul that still hung in the balance.
Killing me would destroy him. One day he would have the opportunity to get his soul back, to come back to himself. He couldn’t do that if he blackened and demolished it in the meantime. I had to live so that he could. I had to survive so he could.
He would never forgive himself for this.
He would never recover.
“And Tristan?” he flinched. “I saw you with him. I saw you tonight.”
In Tristan’s truck? Could he have really seen that?
Tears leaked from my eyes now, steady streams of emotion I couldn’t control. “That was goodbye,” I swore. “I was saying goodbye to Tristan.”
He cocked his head back and pushed the blade deeper into my skin. I choked on it, tasting the metal of blood in my mouth as it coated my tongue. “You’re lying. You’re always lying!” He was shouting again and applying crushing, life-taking pressure on his blade.
I mouthed no, but he was back to being evil again- back to crazy. I closed my eyes against that deranged image of him. If this was my last moment of life I didn’t want to remember him this way. I wanted to picture him as the beautiful boy I knew and loved; the one filled with Light. I remembered his easy going attitude; the strength and power that rippled through him even while he was still. I wanted to remember the mischievous boy that stole my chocolate chip pancakes; the boy that danced gently with me at the Valentine’s dance while my body was still recovering from my first real battle with the Fallen; the boy that curled up with me when his nightmares became too much; the boy that stole my heart and demanded I fall in love with him, not because it was our destiny but because he was the perfect answer to me- my perfect Counterpart.
I opened my mouth to tell him I loved him one more time, but blood ran out of my mouth instead and I was suddenly without the ability to move my mouth. This was it.
Something wet hit my cheek and rolled into my ear. Some distant thought wondered if it was a tear- his tear- but then he was gone and my world was thrust into confusion.
Chapter Twenty-Six
My head fell to the side, while my body frantically tried to heal the damage inflicted on my throat. I was losing a lot of blood and I couldn’t seem to move my arms or legs. My hands had stopped gripping my swords, so they lay idly in my open palms.
And all the while I watched people I cared about fight. My dad was the one that knocked Seth from me. He had flown in, using his strength and power to shove Seth into a skidding path that sent sand flying everywhere. Behind them everyone continued to fight, to kill, to survive.
Bodies lay scattered and lifeless and I couldn’t tell if they were all my enemies or if my friends had fallen too. My dad raised his thick broadswords and brought them swiftly down on Seth.
I had no doubt he intended to kill Seth. There was no hesitation in his swing or his stance.
Seth just barely threw his own cutlasses up to protect himself. The metal clanged together louder than anything yet. Flipping up to his feet, he met my dad hit for hit. They were both fierce, incredible Warriors, their skill unmatched by anyone else I had ever seen.
My dad would get a blow in, finding soft flesh or firm muscle, just in time for Seth to return the hit. They circled and lunged and attacked with a savage grace that flooded me with fear.
Slowly my body started to mend, pull itself back together and heal. Slowly I regained feeling in my fingers and toes. My wound wasn’t as deep as it could have been, nor my pain so significant. But still I felt paralyzed by the scene in front of me. One of those men was going to die- either my dad or my soul mate.
There were no words to describe the emotions that rushed through me, no accurate way to identify the pain, terror and heartache that pressed down against me.
A shadow fell across my face and I looked up into Seven’s amused expression. She was grinning, completely happy to be part of this mayhem.
“Would you like to make a bet?” she laughed lightly. “Seth against your father?”
“No,” I grated, my voice as rough as gravel.
Her eyes twinkled when she crouched down next to me. “Pity I can’t help my brother and end you for him.” Her dagger twirled in her hands. She had all of my attention now. “It would be so easy.” She pressed the blade to my still healing wound. “It would make my brother so happy.”
“Do it,” I challenged. “Kill me.” And then Seth would kill Aliah- his soul would be returned to him, his sanity replaced.
“Do you really hate my brother so much,” she hissed. Her expression flashed from disturbingly childlike to feral in less than a second. “You would take me away from him? You would take Aliah away from him. Selfish cow.”
“You forgot me. I would take me away from him and isn’t that what would really hurt him?” I gloated, even while every word seared in my raw throat.
Disgust morphed her delicate face into something truly disturbing. “You are but an afterthought. He left you.”
“To save me,” I whispered. “How hard did he fight to save you?”
She spit in my face before I saw it coming. “I don’t need to be saved.” She stood up and glanced at the battle raging beyond us. “Unlike you.” With one last dismissing glance at me she mumbled, “Unlike your father.”
I grasped the swords in my finally working palms and struggled to standing. I swayed on my feet from the loss of blood, but managed to stay upright. We healed extremely fast, but it wasn’t instantaneous- our bodies still went through a process. And while the skin at my throat was closed and I was no longer bleeding, I was by no means one hundred percent.
“Maybe I was wrong,” I ground out, gasping for breath. Seven didn’t even turn around, she just kept trudging through the bloody sand. “Maybe you do need saving.”
And then I swung my sword at Seven, slicing a straight, bloody path down her back. She shrieked at the contact and writhed with back bowed as I cut the length of her from shoulder to opposite waist. Her blood-curdling scream resounded louder than any of the current fighting and for a moment it seemed that everything and everyone stopped.