Page 143 of Unrequited
“But wasn’t your father your age when he took the throne?”
“Aye,” he says. “Because his father died.”
His gaze drifts out over the waves. “And I would’ve had it. I would’ve had his trust. But then Branson showed evidence, you and me. Moscow. Us sneaking around. And just like that, I lost every ounce of credibility I’d built.”
“Oh god,” I breathe out, shaking my head. “Let’s go. Please, Seamus. We can still run.”
I’ve been thinking about it for days. Obsessing. Whispering it into the dark when he’s asleep beside me.
“We can leave tonight,” I say. “Take a car, drive away, just keep going. Disappear. Just you and me. We don’t need this. We could become nothing, no names. Just… free.”
He stops walking and slowly turns.
“Run where, Zoya?”
“Anywhere.”
“There’s nowhere he won’t find me,” he says. “You don’t understand.”
“I do.”
“No.” He cuts me off. “If I go now, I hand over every man who’s ever followed me. I hand over my brothers and sisters. My father. Everyone. To that traitor.” His jaw clenches. “If I run, it’s over.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry.”
And I know he means it.
“I wish we could,” he says, his fingers lacing through mine.
We walk until we reach the edge of the cliff. The drop is steep. The sea below, wild and endless. A thousand shades of blue and green and black.
He sits. I follow, my knees pulled to my chest. The wind catches my hair and tangles it, but I don’t care.
“It’s beautiful,” I say, almost reverent.
He pulls a bottle of Guinness from his coat and holds it out. “’Tis. Fancy a drink?”
I arch a brow. “Now?”
He winks, but there’s sorrow behind it. “It’s not drugged, lass.”
I snort. Then I take a sip… and grimace. He chuckles.
“Too strong?”
“No,” I say. “I was raised on vodka.”
He gives me a crooked smile. “Fair.”
The silence stretches, but now it feels a little softer.
“Do you ever swim down there?” I ask.
“Aye. Even this time of year. It’s cold but clear. Gorgeous.”
“You ever jump off the cliff?”
“When we were lads. My father nearly murdered us when he found out. But the water’s deep. You can make the jump if you know how.”
