Her eyes narrowed on my face, studied my expression, and then she reached out her hand for mine.

I pulled away.

Disappointment filled her eyes.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” My deep voice drowned out the sound of the monitors. “But it doesn’t change anything.” I would be there until she was back on her feet. I’d look out for her until she was back to full health. But after that…she was on her own.

When she breathed, it was with a hint of pain. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not the one who got stabbed.”

“But still…”

I knew she was genuinely asking. “I’m fine.”

“Why did he try to kill you?”

The question made me angry because she had absolutely no idea the shit I had to deal with. “You.”

The pained look on her face was so raw that I felt it too.

“Everyone wants me dead—because of you.”

“Magnus—”

“I don’t want to hear your apology ever again. It’s meaningless. You made your decision—and you have to live with it.” I wanted to storm out, but I didn’t because there was no way to know if she would be safe. My anger didn’t combat my obligation. I would stay until she was ready to walk away. “I will be here until you’re well again. But that’s only because you saved my life—and now I owe you.” I moved back to the chair and sat down so she couldn’t look at me. I stared at one of the screens, not interested in looking at her face again.

She was quiet for a long time, the monitors beeping and filling the tense air with their obnoxious sounds. Her blood pressure cuff tightened until it beeped and released the air. The new reading appeared on the screen.

She broke the silence with a weak voice. “I did it because I care about you…because I’d die for you.”

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, refusing to feel anything again. I refused to get caught up in that bullshit again. I refused to feel empathy, compassion, kindness. I only felt bitterness and spite.

“I understand why you feel betrayed, but you know I did the right thing.”

“The right thing?” I got back to my feet and looked down at her, getting angry. “You’re back to where you started. Literally.”

She didn’t match my emotion because she was too weak. Her eyes watched mine for a while. “But I freed those girls—”

“And they were replaced by a new batch. Nice work.”

She shifted her gaze away, like that knowledge truly pained her.

“This place will never go away. Girls will die and be replaced by new ones. It’ll be here after you’re gone, after I’m gone. You can burn the place to the ground, but it will just be replaced. This is bigger than you, bigger than me, and it wasn’t worth your life to challenge it. Your sister belongs to the man I saved her from, and you’re back in the same captivity. Fucking stupid.”

“If I had to do it all over again, I would.”

I clenched my jaw in irritation.

She shifted her gaze back to me. “You know I did the right thing, Magnus. You know you respect me for trying. You know that the reason this is here…is because I have a heart, and so do you.”

I held her gaze and felt my heart sink to my stomach.

“I had to do the right thing, even if that meant betraying you. And I know this is difficult to believe…but I’m still loyal to you. I will do anything for you, not because you saved me, but because…you deserve to have someone look out for you too. Liberating this camp took precedence over you because it’s bigger than either of us. But I will take a knife to the stomach over and over, as many times as necessary, to keep you alive.”

I looked away, refusing to acknowledge the sincerity of her gaze.

She moved her hand to mine.

I pulled it free. “You have no idea what your betrayal has cost me.” I looked at the monitor and felt my body shake in anger. “You have no idea the humiliation I’ve suffered because of you. The one fucking time I allow myself to feel something, it bites me in the fucking ass. I will never make that mistake again.”

“Why don’t you just leave?”

“I can’t.”

“Why—”

“Because I can’t.” I stepped back from the table. “Don’t speak to me again. When you’ve recovered, I will be indifferent to you once again. The guards can do whatever they want—and I will let it happen.”

Eight

Sucked Back In

After a few days of rest, Daniel discharged her from the infirmary.

She was young and healthy and bounced back from the injury fairly quickly. The wound closed, there was no infection, and she was able to walk out and return to her cabin. The second Daniel said she was ready to return to her normal duties, I walked out without looking back.

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