Page 144 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
“No.” That single word lashed back at me. “She was in pain. I knew she was ready to go. It was me who wasn’t ready to let her go.”
Brenton squeezed my hand, the only notion that I wasn’t alone, staring Death down and hoping to come out as some sort of victor.
“I’m ready to go, too,” Brenton said. “I’m at peace with dying.”
“No taunts or jokes?” Death asked, tilting his head to the side.
Brenton shook his head, his lips pulled down in a frown while he kept his eyes leveled with Death.
“Please let Teddy go back to her realm,” Brenton said.
I shook my head, my lips already painted with the word no.
“So quick to leave your friend and cause her pain?” Death asked.
Brenton faced me, hugged me tight against him. It was like hugging nothing and everything at once.
“Live, Teddy,” Brenton begged as he pulled away, one side of his lips going up in a half-smile. “Live, and maybe name yourfirstborn after me.”
I laughed despite the tears welling behind my eyes. “Come back with me.”
“I can’t,” he whispered. “It’s my time. I’m okay with that.”
“Do you still want him back?” Death asked me.
He drew out a sword as if he already knew my answer. I lifted my sword in reply, mesmerized by the shadows that returned to their master.
“Very well.”
With that, Brenton disappeared, and Death was upon me before I’d had the chance to ready myself. I jumped back, stumbling and falling on my ass as his sword came down, clashing against the ground inches from where I’d landed. His sword severed the ground, and a tendril of white smoke drifted from the deep crack. I pulled myself up quickly, pulling my legs apart and holding my sword the way I’d been taught.
Death grinned, eyes narrowing. When he swung his sword again, I clipped it with my own. The strength of his swing made my arms tremble. I stumbled back so that I tripped over my own feet and fell again. I somehow managed to roll away fast enough to escape his lunge. Not fast enough to get back on my feet and answer the next swipe of his sword. The blade stung my shoulder, and after another quick maneuver, he disarmed me.
His smile gleamed down at me, but I held my ground, refusing to answer his taunting smile or let him see how terrified I was at that moment. Although if he were like the fae, he’d be able to scent that fear and hear the way my heart hammered.
He bent at the waist, leaning into me so his face was inches from mine. His shadows encircled me, and when he lifted his sword for the final blow, I pictured Elias, his beautiful smile and the safety and warmth I always found inhis embrace. Ryenne, Donnie, Nate, and Everly, the friendship and joy we’d found in each other. Sweet Victoria, Jasmine, Juanita, and Javier—despite all they’d already lost, they still lived their very best life. All of them. Each of my friends who’d become so much more.Even George.
I hated leaving them. Hated not being a part of the rest of their journey in our world.
Silently, I told them I loved them. Would love them into the afterlife.
I can’t defeat Death with a sword. I’m?—
With a quick prayer, because I had no idea if this could work, I reached for my holstered gun, raised it, and shot Death in the face. The power sent him scrambling backward. I shot him again. And again.
Slowly, the illusion of nothingness disappeared, and I found Death lying on a floodlight of snow, laughing. While I registered Elias’s glowing figure, I ignored him as I stalked back to Death with my gun heavy in my hand. Ignored the way my heart banged with every step I took.
Towering over his reclined figure, I aimed my gun at his face. If he saw the way my hands shook, he didn’t say. Instead, he lifted his hands in a sign of surrender, and a surprisingly boisterous laugh emanated from him.
“I hadn’t realized you brought a gun with you.”
There was no indication of the wounds he should’ve had from the bullets I put in him. When he reached up a hand, I hesitated before extending mine and his large hand immediately dwarfed mine. I jerked my hand away and peered down when he lifted a brow in question.
Sword gone, he pointed his scythe toward the fae and dragons in my realm. “It seems your mate is quite upset. Brenton, too.”
My heart stalled as I took in the vibrant colors pulsing around Brenton.
“He’s alive?” I was too afraid to hope.
