Page 90 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
It’s both quieter and louder than I expected. The gun kicks in my hand, startling me enough that I fall back and land hard on my arse.
Dane is still for a moment. I see a small, dark hole at his temple. Blood has sprayed over the tables and wall to his right. I can’t catch my breath.
Mason’s eyes snap open. The hatchet drops to the floor first, landing with a dull thud, and then Dane’s body follows it, hitting with enough force that I gasp.
Autumn isn’t moving anymore. Dane doesn’t so much as twitch, either.
Mason looks at me, eyes wide. “You…” He trails off, but when he approaches, I don’t shrink back or move away. I’m shaking all over. I only realise that when he crouches and gently takes the gun from my loose grip.
He tosses it aside and kneels between my legs. “Yousavedme, little lamb.”
I want to laugh. I want to cry. I want to not think about everything I now know because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it and how I’m supposed to deal with it in the next hour, or what will happen when the train comes or I have to talk to Rae or…
I kiss Mason instead. This is the first thing to surprise him, I think, because he makes a sound against my mouth before he kisses me back. The air is full of the scent of blood and death, but I inhale the earthy scent of him instead and lose myself to each desperate meeting of our lips.
“Is it true?” I ask when we part. “All of it?”
“I don’t know about the Citadel, but the necromancer? Me? That’s true, yes.”
I should let go of him, but I can’t. I still don’t think I can stand, and now it has nothing to do with shock or Dane trying to kill me. If I stand, I have to leave. Ihaveto. Mason and I can’t have a future, not after he—
“Do you regret it?”
Mason looks at me, confused. “Regret…?”
“Unleashing it all.”
“I—” He licks his lips and swallows. “Will it help if I do?”
We’re breathing the same air. His hand is warm and heavy on the back of my neck.
I’ve never, in my life, felt so safe as I do right now in his arms.
“Would you do it again?”
“Yes.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I’m lucky that I don’t have to try to form words. Noises come from outside—voices, footsteps—and Mason helps me to my feet. I don’t lean into him, but I don’t push away his touch.
The end is coming. I can feel it.
Nia is the first to walk into the room. She stops, eyes widening at the sight before her.
Rae sees Autumn’s body and shakes her head in disbelief. “I-I told her…”
“I tried,” I say. Can she hear the regret inmyvoice? I should have bargained with Dane to get her out. I should have put myself between them, threat be damned. Autumn might never have liked me, but she was young, and she didn’t deserve to be sent out like this.
“There was nothing we could do for her,” Mason says.
Nia’s eyes snap to him. They’re shining and full of fury.
“Nothing?” she hisses.
She knows what he’s done. And I find, despite myself, that I’m leaping to his defence. “There was nothing else—”
“It’s fine,” Mason murmurs.
“We need…” Rae shakes her head. Callum wanders over to the trapdoor, face paling when he spots Otto’s body within.
