Page 70 of Our Vicious Descent
One of Nicoletta’s men called over. “Thank you, again, for letting us rest here.”
Layla nodded. “As long as you remain allied to us and not Karine.”
“We’ve seen what she does to noncooperative humans and reapers. We want no part of that.”
Layla had seen an opportunity in the tense moment after Sena’s attack. With the Saint compound covered in Nicoletta’s blood, the gangsters had to choose between staying and risking certain death or yielding to Layla’s word. Even close to death, these newly turned gangsters chose life. Layla had never anticipated the new lair growing quite so crowded. Nor could she have anticipated rogue reaperssaving a Saint’s life. But Layla had dropped to her knees when she saw them pulling Elise from the dirt in Washington Square Park.
The Saint had been buried among thousands of other bodies. It was a miracle she emerged still breathing with all the blood loss she had endured.
“Is she going to wake up?” Josi asked. She had been sitting on the stairs with Sterling and Jamie, but she moved into the free space beside Layla. The younger Saint regarded her sister’s limp body on the velvet couch with considerable concern. Her brows furrowed, and her lips poked out in a fearful pout. “I felt Sena calling me. I had to go. She gets so angry when I don’t listen to her. I think if you had not held me down, I would have been worse.”
Layla swallowed hard. She took Josi’s hand and slipped it into Elise’s. “If she’ll wake up for anyone, it will be you.”
Josi dropped to her knees beside her sister. She bent over her, murmuring something inaudible to Elise. Tears glistened on her cheeks as she spoke, and Layla turned away to give them a moment of privacy.
A few rogue reapers caught her eye, and she shook her head after reading their questioning expressions. “I have never known rogues to care for a Saint.”
One rogue pulled his gaze from Elise to look at Layla. “She saved our lives on the ship. It felt unwise to move on as if things have not changed between reapers and humans. Incurable debts aside, we are on the brink of something more monstrous than history itself. Rogues would rather be on the side that sees us asworthy enough to live. So we will return the favor as long as we are acknowledged.”
Layla’s lips parted in silent awe. With the way things had gone over the past few days, Layla had no idea what either of them would do once Elise woke up. But to see such folks from different walks of life crowding in a cathedral together in the middle of the night—it felt like more than a coincidence. A calling, perhaps, if Layla believed in those things.
“Oh, dove. Please don’t cry.” Elise’s hushed voice drew Layla back to her.
She spun around and found Elise hugging her sister back. Her eyes were bright with tears that refused to fall. As Layla neared, Elise’s gaze settled on her. Elise reached for her hand and squeezed it, a soft smile gracing her lips. Watching Elise smile even while covered in blood and on the verge of anguish felt like watching the early-morning sunlight break across the sky.
***
“I hate that you’re a part of this. I really wish you would just go hide with Sterling until all this is over,” Layla murmured. She wiped her blood away from the freshly healed wounds in Elise’s throat. For once, they were alone, tucked away in her room upstairs. “Maybe it was better when my clan hated you and didn’t want you around.”
The Saint groaned. “I wish you wouldn’t do that. It’s progress that your clan accepts me now for saving you and other reapers. Wecannot discount that.”
Layla’s jaw clenched in frustration. She dropped the bloody rag into the bin by her sink and followed Elise out to her bedroom. “This is progress, but it has a cost. It’s naive to assume reapers will continue to accept Saints just because of today. Not to mention you nearly died.”
Elise whirled on her, ire creasing her brows and casting darkness across her expression. “And that was my choice. My whole life, I have had things decided for me. Everyone has made choices on my behalf. And now you’re doing it too. You assume I do not want you in my life and assume I am better off without you. You keep me at a distance, and it drives me insane. I don’t understand why you insist on being like this. Hot and then cold. Avoiding me, but needing my approval and my confirmation.”
“You really have to ask me this?” Layla drew closer to her, her voice hard.
“Evidently. Why are you so stubborn when it comes to me and me only? What end are you searching for?” Elise ground out.
Layla was so close now, she could feel the heat of Elise’s anger rolling off her. “One with you.”
Pain blanched Elise’s face, and for a moment, Layla regretted her words. No amount of protection on her behalf would be worth the anguish it eventually pulled from the Saint. “Are you trying to mock me? Trying to remind me why we can’t be together because you will live forever and I won’t?” Her voice broke. “Layla—”
“I’m trying to tell you I fucking love you,” Layla almost shouted.Her body stilled as Elise’s eyes grew shiny with awe.
Elise blinked slowly, and then a quiet smile stretched across her lips. “You could have just said that.”
“It’s hard, Lise. You’re right. We don’t have forever—not even close. No amount of time with you would ever be enough…” Layla’s breath shuddered out of her, and when Elise touched her cheek, she covered her hand with her own.
“We don’t have to think of that yet. So let’s not.” Elise’s thumb stroked over the silent tear that streaked Layla’s cheek. “There are a million little forevers in every moment we have. We can make our own eternity out of this time.” She let out a little breath, and beneath it, Layla heard her mutter, “Laisse-moi mourir en premier.”
Layla squeezed her hand. “You keep saying that. What does it mean?”
Elise’s eyes crinkled and she spoke quietly. “Let me die first.”
The realization of her statement sank in like a physical blow. Layla swallowed past her pained shock, and she held Elise tighter. “No.”
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