Scarred(Never After #2)(93)

She’s tied her hair in a bun, but curls fall out of the edges, and there’s a deep red line smeared across her cheek that looks a lot like blood.

“Are we in Heaven?” I murmur. I try to lift my hand, but agony shoots through my limb.

She grimaces. “No, my love. Right now? We’re in hell.”

I cringe when she helps pull me to a sitting position, and I shake my head of the haze and glance around. The guard from earlier is dead, sprawled on the ground with a shiny dagger sticking from the front of his throat.

“How?”

“Shh,” she whispers, her arms running down my naked chest and over my torn up body. “I’ll have to relocate your shoulders.” Her eyes meet mine. “It will hurt.”

I manage a soft smirk. “No more than thinking you were dead.”

She smiles, leaning in to press a soft kiss against my lips, and with a sharp snap of her body weight, there’s an acute, agonizing pain, followed by a dull throb.

Groaning, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip until I taste blood.

“One more time, ready?”

“Ye-”

She snaps it back into place before I can finish the word, and I let out another groan of pain. Glancing around, she digs a small bottle out of her pocket.

Laudanum. “Are you going to drug me now?”

She lifts a brow. “Just take a little. For the pain.”

I grab the bottle and allow the bitter liquid to slide down my throat, and then she helps me to a stand. My body is worn and tired, shaky and bruised. But I’m alive. She’s alive.

“How is this possible?”

Shouts sound in the distance and she places her hand over mine, looking at me. Fear squeezes my chest. I just got her back, I’m not ready to lose her again.

“Can you run?” she whispers.

I nod, and she pulls me along with her, my muscles screaming in protest and my lungs burning as we sprint from the middle of the court to the far east side, hiding behind a wall that leads into the tunnels.

The courtyard lights flare to life, and dogs bark in the distance, and I know before anything is said, that means the military will be flooding here soon. If I hadn’t convinced Michael to send away most of his troops, she wouldn’t have even made it to me.

“What did you do?” I ask, gripping her face.

“You left the rebellion,” she says, smiling up at me. “So I brought the revolution to you.”

My heart cracks wide open and I need to kiss her; even though I shouldn’t, even though I’m beaten and worn, and I’m sure I smell like death. I bend down anyway, shoving my tongue in her mouth and dragging her into my newly formed scars reveling in the pain it causes, because if we’re going to die, I’ll be damned if I don’t get to taste her one more time.

Moaning, she gives as good as she gets, and then she breaks away. “I have them in the tunnels.”

My stomach cramps. “The rebels?”

She nods. “I wasn’t sure if Michael knew of them, but it was our best chance to break into the castle, to make our way here without being shot at and killed. Edward’s with them, and they’re ready to fight, Tristan. We can do this.”

I bob my head, taking in her words, even as shouts sound closer now than they were before, and a gunshot rings from outside of the castle walls. Any moment now, and we’ll be caught.

And then a sick thought hits me and my heart ramps up in my chest, exploding through the cavity as I grip her arm. “Sara.”

She looks up at me from where she was peering around the corner.

“Simon is in the tunnels.”

Horror overcomes her features, her mouth parting wide and her eyes growing big. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Tristan, you have to get him out.”

I shake my head, my jaw tensing as my soul tears in two, fighting between what I know is right and what I refuse to do. “I’m not leaving you here.”

She grins, although I see the turmoil brewing in her dark gaze. “Do you think you fell in love with a weak woman?”

My chest pulls, emotion wringing my bones.

“I can take care of myself,” she promises, her words tasting like the most bitter type of lie. “Go save your nephew.”

My breath whooshes from my lungs. She knows. Of course she knows.

Doors from the castle slam open, echoing through the nighttime air and as I peer around the corner, I see at least two dozen uniforms with dogs pulling at their leashes.

“Sara.” A loud voice rings out. She falters from where she was just pushing at my chest, her eyes narrowing as she spins to face away from me. “There’s no escaping us, sweet niece. Come out and surrender and we shall grant you mercy.”

She moves forward, her anger so potent I can see it singeing off her skin.

“Are you fucking insane?” I snap, grabbing her arm. “Do not go out there.”

“We’ve found all of your friends,” her uncle continues. “If you both surrender, we’ll let them live.”

“Go,” she demands, prodding at me.

I shake my head back and forth, a ball of absolute terror expanding in my chest, making me hyperventilate as I struggle to breathe.

“Tristan, listen to me,” she pleads. “You know the tunnels like the back of your hand. You’re the only one who does.” Her eyes well with tears. “I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to him, and even though you won’t admit it, neither will you. You have to save him. Please.”