Declan pulls his head back by the hair and growls into his ear, “What have youeverdone for me that didn’t serve you?”
Rian scrambles up, limping toward Fionn’s fallen weapon. He’s halfway there when Fionn twists in Declan’s grip and grabs him by the ankle. Rian falls forward, swearing, and Fionn pulls himwith whatever strength he has left, even as Declan holds him tightly. Fionn takes the moment to thrash just enough to turn and grab the blade from Faolan’s hip.
“No!” I don’t think. I move. I dive toward Rian’s fallen gun. The cold metal kisses my palm like an old secret. Like it’smine. Like it was always meant to end this way. I raise it. My hands are shaking. My knees are bleeding from the scramble, but none of that registers. “Put down the knife, Mr. Crowley,” I say, my own voice raw and unfamiliar.
Declan has his throat, but he’s straining to hold him while he bucks. The man is all bone and rage, coiled muscle and rot. And hesmiles. Even with a gun pointed at his head, he smiles like he’s already won.
Rian kicks at him to free his ankle. Fionn’s grip on the dagger slackens slightly, but he still has it. His eyes flick from me to Rian, then back. “Don’t do this,” he wheezes, as if he’s offering mercy. As if he’s still the one in charge.
“Why not?”
“You kill me,wan, and everything I’ve built falls apart. The Valacchis won’t be the only ones at your door. The alliances I made will be gone. And when they come, your boys will be orphans.”
I take a step closer. “No. They won’t.”
“They’ll be hunted likehounds,” he spits, breath wet and rattling. “You’ll never keep them safe. You think they’ll thank you when they’re bleeding out in the street?”
I shake my head. “They’ll befree.Better bleeding than chained to you.”
He sneers, baring yellowed teeth. “They’re chained to me by blood. You really think they’re not mine? That I didn’t make them who they are? You think you fixed them with your pretty face and soft hands?”
I step even closer, until the barrel of the gun presses into his temple. “You didn’t just want to kill me. You wanted toruinthem.”
“Theyareruined,” he snarls, even as Declan’s arm tightens. “They’re just like me. Look at them. They want to kill their own father. They’refucked up.”
“No,” I whisper. “You’re the only ruined one here. They still know how to love. You? All you know is pain.”
His eyes narrow, full of something ancient and dying and desperate. “You’ll know it too.”
I don’t look away.
I think of Kellan, bleeding out alone on the floor. Of his smile. His stupid puns. The way he holds the twins like they’re his heartbeat. The way he reached for mefirstwhen he was shot.
I see Fionn’s blade twitch.
And I shoot.
The bang tears through the air like a thunderclap.
His body jerks, the dagger slips from his hand, and he slumps in Declan’s grip. Blood fans out in a burst across Declan’s chest. A few droplets spatter Rian’s cheek, and the dagger clatters to the floor beside him.
Fionn’s head tilts like a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes are still open, glassy and wide. But there’s nothing behind them now.
Just a corpse.
A man made of blood and rot, finally emptied.
Silence.
Rian breathes.
I drop the gun. It hits the floor with a loud, metallic clack. Declan reaches for me, but I slip through sticky blood to get to Kellan. “Kellan,” I whisper when I reach him. He’s white, so white I can’t see his freckles, and his hands are limp at his side, no longer trying to keep the blood inside himself.
I rest my cheek against his chest and hear a faint heartbeat. He’s still alive.
“Oh my God,” I sob, pressing both hands to his chest. “I’m here. Please be okay. Please.” His blood is hot on my hands. I don’t know where to press. Everything’s slick and red and terrifying. “Kellan, don’t you dare die. We did it. You have to be here for the rest. We get to live life now, Kellan, please.” I can barely talk. My throat is closing with thick sobs.
Declan kneels beside me. His face is tight, blank with panic. “We need a doctor,” he says to Rian. When he doesn’t answer, Declan screams, “ANOIS LÁITHREACH!” I haven’t heard him scream in so long, and I don’t know what he said but I get it. We need the doctor now.
