Pupils pulsing with shock and horror, he reared back. “Kill you? No. Never.”
“Don’t make me beg, Warden. Oh, what the heck. Please kill me, Roux. Please.” She pressed her hands together. “A Skyhawk always makes a supreme gesture to romance her male. Let me make mine with flavor and flare. I’d really like to put on a show for everyone.”
He glared at her. Shook a finger of accusation. Opened and closed his mouth. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
“Well, I love you. Today, I get the chance to prove it in front of everyone.”
His mouth opened and closed faster. A strangling sound left him. “You love me? Me?”
“I do, and I’m never letting you go.” Okay, she couldn’t stay away a moment longer. Blythe pressed her body against his and slid her arms up his chest, around his neck. “That’s why you’re going to do this for me. You’ll cut out my heart with your trinite blade, keeping yourself and your little friends curse-free and ensuring Isla isn’t placed in unnecessary danger by allowing our enemy to win.”
“I will not do anything of the sort.” He slung his arms around her waist, a quick snap and lock. “We will go into hiding and hibernate for five hundred years. All of us.”
“And let Erebus ascend, so that he’s stronger than ever when we awaken? Nope. My plan gives us the victory. All you gotta do is kill me.”
His nostrils flared. “Kill you to save your life?”
“Exactly.” She rose to her tiptoes to press a kiss into his lips. “Aren’t I brilliant?”
The striations in his irises spun with dizzying speed. “Do you think because my heart is the same as Laban’s I can turn on you? I assure you, I cannot. He and I are not the same. Just as I am not the same as Mars.”
“Laban and Mars have nothing to do with anything. I’m trusting you with my life, Roux. Obviously. Do me the courtesy of trusting your she-beast, as promised? I have a plan, remember? I’d tell you, but I’m not gonna risk your task.”
“Yes. But—”
“No buts.” She pulled back, unsheathing his trinite dagger. Then she grabbed his arm and slapped the hilt into his grip. “Do you know how jealous everyone is going to be when they see my consort is fierce enough to slay me? Let me have this. Please, Roux. Please. I’ve never asked you for anything. And everything will be all right, I swear. I have a plan, remem—”
Roaring, he slammed the blade into her chest and carved out her heart, exactly as tasked. Sharp pain registered, and her knees collapsed. Roux caught her as she fell, cradling her against his chest as they sank into the sand together.
Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Heal, she-beast. Heal!” He cut his wrist and placed the wound over her lips.
Blood dripped into her mouth. From the dais, Erebus issued a roar of his own.
Didn’t see that coming, did you, Dark One?Weakness invaded, despite his medicinal efforts. Her hands and feet chilled.
As darkness and death came for her, Blythe smiled up at the male she loved and whispered, “You forgot to shoutone, babe. Now let Taliyah...”
Hisgravitawent quiet. Even the phantoms in the stands went quiet. The watching harpies gasped with shock. Whispers arose. “No, he didn’t!”
“Did an Astra just murder his freakinggravita?”
“So he’s single now?”
Dead. Blythe was dead. Her shredded heart rested in the sand only a few feet away. Roux had done that. He’d killed her. As denials exploded inside his head, he thundered another roar at the sky. Why had he done this terrible thing? Why, why, why?
Suddenly Taliyah materialized before him and tried to wrench Blythe from his arms. He resisted.
“Do you want her to come back or not?” the General shrieked. “Then let me work!”
Blythe’s final words drifted through his mind.
Now let Taliyah...
Though it went against his every instinct, he released the love of his life. It was only then that he saw the blade in Taliyah’s hand.
She spoke as she worked, ripping off Blythe’s top, revealing her mutilated chest. “Erebus exchanged Laban’s heart with a clone’s, right? Well, Blythe decided to use his trick against him.” The General opened a cooler to reveal a severed heart. “She borrowed her own ticker this morning. Had me cut it with a regular blade. Then she grew a new one. I saved the old one.” She placed the precious organ in the hole Roux’s fist had left behind. “This should work. A heart powers everything and this one is unaffected by trinite.”
He...she... “Should?” Roux snarled, slashing his wrist again, then pressed the wound to her mouth, ensuring his blood continually poured down Blythe’s throat.