He was dead. I’d killed him. It was over.
A broken laugh spilled from my lips. As I grasped Kaige’s arm, hugging him back as well as I could in that moment, the remaining Steel Knights fell back and fled the building. They had no fight left in them faced with the Claws members’ guns and the dead body of their leader.
“Thank you,” I said to Jenner when he glanced back at me.
He dipped his head. “I should thank you for reminding me of my proper priorities. We’ll stay with you until the Nobles arrive. And when you’re ready to raise up the Claws again, we’ll be waiting.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around those words right now. I turned toward the guys, groping for Rowan. His face had paled, and half of his shirt was stained red, but he met my gaze steadily enough to reassure me that he wasn’t on the verge of death himself. “Don’t worry about me,” he said raggedly. “I can hang in there.”
“He’d better,” Wylder muttered, wincing when Gideon balled a new rag against his thigh to replace the blood-soaked one. “Knowing my father, if I lose even one man in this goddamned fight against ridiculous odds, he’ll still call it a loss.”
Kaige let out a raw, wild laugh, and then the others laughed too, and I knew that as bloody and damaged as we were, we were going to be all right.