Page 117 of Star Bringer
“You’re looking pretty sorry for yourself, there, Princess,” Ian says. “Chin up.”
He’s right. I raise my chin. Time to end this pity party—for good this time. “You’d better go,” I tell him. “Maybe if you leave me your pistol, I can hold them back while you get away.”
“Like I’m going to leave you my pistol.” He snorts. “So you can take out a couple more walls before you die?”
“Hey, haven’t we been over this already?First timeholding a gun and all that?”
There’s another barrage of bullets, and he blasts back at them one more time. But again, their voices are closer, and it’s only a matter of time before they decide to do a full-on attack and take us out.
“Fine,” I tell him. “Take your stupid pistol and get out of here before it’s too late.”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty comfortable here—I like this wall—so I think I’m going to stay.”
“You can’t stay!” I tell him. “You’ll die.”
He lifts his brows. “There you go underestimating me again.”
“It’s not underestimating you if it’s the truth. And there’s no need for us both to die. You have to go!”
He smirks. “Princess Kalinda, the martyr. Not sure the look suits you. Besides, I’ve always been a sucker for a damsel in distress.”
“No, you haven’t!” I tell him, and the desperation is growing inside me. Because time is running out.
“Okay, you’re right, I haven’t.” He blasts some more laser fire in their direction, then looks at me, his expression serious for once.
“Just go, Ian! Please. Go.”
He studies my face for several seconds, like he’s trying to decide what or how much he wants to say. But in the end, he just shrugs and says, “I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can! The cuffs are gone. You can totally—”
“It’s not that kind ofcan’t, Princess.” He shakes his head. “The truth is, part of me is screaming at me to run. But I can’t do it. I don’t know what the fuck it is about you, but pretty much from the first moment I saw you, I’ve had this really inconvenient urge to keep you safe. I hate it, but it’s not going away, so neither am I.”
“Well, you’re doing a great job so far,” I tell him with a roll of my eyes. But even as I give him a hard time, his words fascinate me. They also make me feel warm and fuzzy inside—or at least as warm and fuzzy as I can feel when blood is leaking out of my leg at an alarming rate and any second a mob is going to attack us with the express purpose of making us dead.
So maybe it’s not warm and fuzzy at all. Maybe it’s more like cold and sad and a little bit grateful. Because he’s staying. I would have sworn he’d have been the first one to vanish on me, and yet, here he is.
Tears prick the backs of my eyes, and I blink. If I’m going to die, I’m not going to do it bawling my eyes out just because some hot guy says something nice. I’m tougher than that. Anyway, it’s probably the gerjgin.
Another barrage of bullets with a bunch of shouts intermingled. Ian blasts with his laser gun, then peeks over the barrier.
“Shit,” he mutters, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “It looks like this is it, Princess.”
Chapter 45
Ian
I never thought it would end like this.
Actually, I never thought much about it ending at all.
I have a moment of regret for Max and Milla. Max keeps trying to talk to me, but I’m blocking him out when I can and ignoring him when I can’t. Because I know this choice is unfair to him, to both of them. But it’s the choice I have to make.
“Get your head out of your fucking ass, Ian, and tell me where you are!” There he is again, his voice blasting through my skull. Max has gone from joking to concerned to angry to wheedling in the past few minutes, trying to get me to respond to him. Now, apparently, he’s back to angry.
I don’t blame him. But it’s not like I’m going to ask him to bring that incompetent crew down here to die with me. There’s nothing they could do, even if hecouldget here in time. No use giving him a front row seat to everything falling apart.
I don’t look at Kali again. I can’t bear to when it’s all my fault that she’s here. I should have let her go home when she first asked to. But I’ve never been particularly altruistic. And I didn’t want to let her go.
