Page 121 of Ashes and Lilies
“Yeah, I ditched Anthony a long time ago.” He glanced down at me.
How did he manage that? The necromancer had seemed verydetermined in his assignment. I wanted to know, but that wasn’t really important either.
“You—” Darn it, it was getting harder to stay angry at him. “You came to rescue meby yourself?” I asked him again.
He tilted his head.
“Never mind,” I muttered, looking away.
Didn’t he realize how dangerous this was? I had no idea how many others were around, but he was surely outnumbered.
Why would he take such a risk?
“Why wouldn’t I come?” Finn responded anyway. “It’s not like I’m scared.”
My skin felt feverish, and I watched the dirty tile floor as we moved further along our path.
Why was he like this?
“Almost there,” he told me and stopped before a set of double doors. “There’s a lobby past here, and we can escape through the front doors. Daniel went the other way.”
“I’m not stupid,” Daniel cut in, and my heart jumped. “It was shortsighted of you to assume that I haven’t put up any safeguards.”
Finn’s form tensed, and my breath caught as Daniel Cole stepped into view from a side hallway.
“Come on, Abernathy.” Daniel sighed. “Why are you even here?”
My breath caught in my throat. What if Finn said something stupid? The success of my plan hinged on Daniel's belief that he was privy to special information that not even the boys were aware.
I would not let him use me to blackmail Damen.
“He—he’s my boyfriend!” I gasped, grasping Finn’s arm. He was, in fact, a boy and somewhat of a friend—at least, he had been at some point. “We’ve only just started being serious!”
“But…” Daniel eyed my hands. “You can’t…”
“It’s a secret!” I told him.
“Yes,” Finn replied—despite not knowing what was happening, he was always quick to follow along. “She’s definitely a pain in my ass.”
“Hey!” I let him go and glared at him. “Why do you need to say it like that?”
Daniel looked between us. “You two won’t work if you’re fighting like this already.”
Finn scowled at him.
“It doesn’t matter,” Daniel continued. “You’ll both be dead soon anyway.”
My stomach dropped as the door opened behind me. Three men had guns pointed in our direction, and, in front of us, Daniel had pulled out his own.
“Give up,” Daniel said, speaking to Finn. “You can’t defeat all of us.”
I clung to Finn’s sleeve with shaking fingers while he remained a firm, steady figure beside me. We might have been at odds, but I was grateful he’d come after me.
“Guns?” he asked, and his lips quirked as he looked Daniel over. “Really?”
However, as always, his mouth was making things worse.
“It’s not surprising that you keep trying to cheat,” Finn remarked. “You don’t have a choice. It never made sense for someone as boring as you to be so powerful.”
