Page 105 of Princess Avenged

Even better, it’s still the lights cast by the Eiffel Tower and not the sun.

Chapter

Forty-Four

Ana

“Crusher!” I watch in horror, as he drops back into the portal.

Lunging toward it, I plan to join him, but smash into an invisible barrier.

Fuming, I turn toward Ember. “Let me go!”

She shakes her head, and I slam my palms against whatever magic she’s created to contain me. Then I slump to the ground. Brute strength isn’t my best asset and wouldn’t work in this case if it was. Ember’s magic was strong enough to hold Phil, so there’s no chance I can smash through it.

I’ll have to use one of my better honed weapons—persuasion.

“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Phil,” I plead. “What if he’s still alive? What if seeing me, hearing my voice is what brings him back? Imagine if it were Zuben or Axe or Ryker? Wouldn’t you go back?”

Ember’s hands are shaking. She’s not four feet in front of me, but a million miles away in terms of my ability to touch her. “Ana,” she says softly. “Phil is gone.” Her eyes emote compassion, but I want none of that.

“You don’t know that. He can survive a stab to the liver.”

“But—” Ember looks down “—the stake to his heart.” She looks into my eyes. “Ana, I think Phil died on that rooftop. Crusher is certain of it.”

I shake my head. What is she talking about? We’ve seen him since then. He didn’t die.

“The demon brought him back to life,” she continues. “The demon gave him extended life, so he could use Phil’s body. And so…” She pauses, wringing her shaking hands. “If the demon was the only thing keeping Phil alive, and you killed the demon?—”

I fall back, dropping to my ass on the paving stones.

How did I not think of this before? And if Ember knew this would happen, why didn’t she tell me?

The discussion she had with Crusher.

“Did Crusher know?” I ask, my voice barely audible.

Her lips quiver. “You should talk to him about that.”

“I may never get the chance!” That realization hits me as hard as the one about Phil. I may never see either of them ever again.

And I realize that, despite all that’s happened, despite all my denials, I do love Crusher. I love him fiercely, profoundly, deeply.

I hate that Crusher drugged me to get me away from Phil. I hate that he tricked me and deceived me, and that he’s risking his life now. But more than that, I hate that he’s taken away my chance to tell him how I feel and stolen my chance to be with him.

But the reasons behind Crusher’s actions I hate, are also why I love him.

Earlier, I accused Crusher of being a rigid, rule-follower, and while he does love a good rule, everything Crusher does is motivated by what’s right. And he’ll break rules when he sees that they’re wrong.

He’s the one who got the brothers away from their master, the one who freed the other children and vampires at The Institute. He’s the one who molded their master’s rules to create a safe life for him and his brothers, utilizing the only skills they had, what they’d been trained to do. And while I’ve purposefully avoided asking too many questions about their so-called missions, I suspect he never took clients unless he agreed with their motives.

Even in my case, as soon as he realized that Mariano had changed the plan and staged an ambush, instead of kidnapping me for him, Crusher’s the one who grabbed me and dropped down through that trap door.

My heart is aching so badly I’m not certain I’ll survive. Not only have I lost Phil—for good this time—my heart must simultaneously deal with realizing I love Crusher, at the same moment I’ve lost him.

Ember is eying the portal; her entire body is trembling now.

“I need to close it.” She raises her hands.

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