Page 177 of Gift from the Stone

Just as the first tear slides down my cheek, I command the air in his lungs to come to me.

As fucked up as it is, I release a relieved breath as he gasps for air, halting his hand. Corentin taught me how to push air into the lungs but not pull it out, so this was trial and error.

“You slice one mark on him, and I suffocate you. Drop the fucking dagger and let him go.” I tremble out.

I have no shame of the tears falling down my face. He’d be ignorant to believe they’re a sign of weakness when I literally have his life in my hands. These are tears of fear, tears of anger, and if he pushes me, they’ll be tears of guilt that I took yet another life. But I’ll get over that guilt quickly enough.

Killing him would cause so much devastation, so much destruction on the academy, the students, and it would alter the results of whatever it is I’m supposed to do, but it’s a risk I’ll take to save Ry’s life right now.

If looks could kill, I’d be dead where I’m standing. When a small dribble of blood trickles down Ry’s throat, I tighten my hold on Gish’s lungs until he grunts painfully.

He forcefully slings Ry to the ground in my direction, then grabs at his own throat. When Ry makes a few struggling crawls toward me, I push a small amount of air back into Gish so he doesn’t die. I’m not going to let him get a full breath in until all my demands are met, though.

“Now, send someone outside to call all your members off. I want every student and E.F. member they’ve captured left right there on the training yard, then I’ll come with you,” I order as Ry finally makes it to my feet.

“Go,” Master Gish chokes out to the man on his right.

Kneeling down to Ry, I gently tug him into a hug. I keep my eyes locked ahead of me but hide my mouth at the junction of Ry’s collarbone and shoulder.

“Ry, listen to me—”

“I can’t let you do whatever it is you have planned, Willow. It’ll kill them,” he cuts me off to whisper. His words are clipped, and I know it’s taking him a lot of energy to get them out. Stubborn as shit, just like Oakly.

“Just shut up and listen to me, please. When all the Mastery members leave, the guys need to get Gaster here. I told Oakly to hide and stay in the secret room until he comes and gets her. She won’t come out until then.”

He lets out a choked sob that takes me by surprise. His loud and overwhelming thoughts filter through my mind and it’s only then I realize he didn’t see me get to her in time. He took a beating from hell thinking this whole time they took her.

“She’s safe, Ry,” I reassure him. He squeezes my shoulder tightly and I know it’s a mixture of thanks and concern.

“I can’t let her do this. Tillman will kill me. She only knows surface level of what these sick fucks do to people. There’s no telling what they have planned for her.”

His grip on me tightens just as the thought crosses his mind like he really plans to stop me in the condition he’s in.

“Ry, I don’t know why I have to do this, but it’s what’s supposed to happen. I know and have lived through far more than you know. I’ll be okay, but I need you to remember what I’m telling you. Gaster gets Oakly, then I need you to tell Oakly not to waste it.”

“Waste it? Waste what?”

“She’ll know,” I whisper and stand back up as the man Master Gish ordered out comes back.

“Well?” I ask, arching a brow.

A flood of Mastery members begins popping out of transports, filling the space of the gym in seconds. By the looks of them, they’ve been fighting tooth and nail out there. Fighting the students, the E.F. members. My men.

I accidentally, sort of, squeeze the air back out of fuck face’s lungs as I use it to slide Ry behind me and into the threshold of the command room. There are far too many of them in here now. If they want to take me and the remaining E.F. members in here, they can.

As Gish’s face begins to turn a little blue, I slowly release my strangle on his lungs and let him take a deep breath.

“All of you return to camp. Follow the original drop plans,” he orders and all but twelve leave the gym.

“Happy, girl? Now it’s your turn. You try anything crazy, every member left in here dies and I call in more reinforcements than you can imagine.” He snarls at me.

“Willow,” Ry pleads.

“Do as I told you. Please,” I say with one last look over my shoulder at him.

Holding my head high, I try my best to choke down the fear that’s filling every cell in my body. Fear of the unknown of what I’m walking into. Fear of what they plan to do to me. Fear of how my men, my friends, will feel about me when they find out I knew this was coming and could do nothing to stop it. I just had to let it happen.

I never promised any of them I wouldn’t sacrifice myself again because I knew that was a promise I couldn’t keep.

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