Page 146 of House of Crimson Cloak and Silver Teeth

The back and forth of negotiation between him and the young assassin continues while his blood drips onto the marble tiles.

Garrett drops to his knees, surrendering.

I watch through the crushing helplessness as he bows his head, offering his life to save his family.

This is who Garrett has always been underneath the charm and the smiles. Someone who would sacrifice himself without hesitation if it meant saving others.

The assassin raises the sword, ready to strike. “Are you truly prepared to give me your life, Garrett son of Clayborne?”

I can see her clearly now in the moonlight as the hood falls back, the silver hair and her face twisted with grief.

Rhianelle Wiolant.

She came for him tonight, a scared young queen trying to stop a war. Garrett is giving her the only solution he could find.

Himself.

“Always, my queen.”

Garrett is calm as he utters his last words. Queen Rhianelle is shaking so hard that the sword trembles in her grip.

He says something I can’t hear.

This is it. The moment. The end.

I put my entire soul into one desperate scream.

Wait, please. I have so many things to say to him. Take me instead. Please don’t take him. Kill me. Hurt me. Anything but this.

The blade comes down and silence follows. My vision blurs completely at the critical moment. I’m alone with the darkness and the knowledge of what just happened.

Garrett is dead. I failed him.

The words repeat in my mind like a death knell. It’s my fault. All of it. If I’d seen through his plan. If I’d refused the wine or fought the drug or broken through the paralysis. If I’d been anything other than what I am.

My tears won’t stop. They run down my face and soak into his pillow until I’m drowning in the memory of him. The shadows in my vision keep spreading. I welcome them. If he’s gone there’s nothing left worth staying in this world for.

The last thing I think is his name.

Garrett.

The darkness takes me and I fall into nothing.

Chapter Twenty

Iwake to sunlight and Kitty’s cat mask inches from my face.

It’s too close, filling my vision. My first instinct is to reach for a weapon. But my body is sluggish and unresponsive, weighed down by something more than sleep.

“Finally,” she hisses. “I’ve been trying to wake you for an hour.”

My head feels like it’s been split with an axe. Every thought comes slow and painful. I try to sit up, pushing through the layers of fog.

The bed beside me is cold, empty of Garrett’s warmth. He’s been gone for hours but the rumpled sheets still carry his scent.

It’s real. Last night happened.

I reach out and touch the pillow where his head rested.