Page 108 of The Phantom's Vice

“Ghost,” she whispers, voice cracking painfully. “Ghost, you have to hold on. Orion will find us soon. Someone will?—”

“Brett,” I insist, cutting off whatever lie she was going to say next. “Brett, I’m dying.”

“N–no you’re not!” she screams, her mind refusing to believe it. “You’re going to make it! We’rebothgoing to make it.” Those twinkling sapphires take me in, expecting me to say something reassuring—to tell her I’m going to fight. That I’ll be okay.

But I just shake my head. “Brett darling,could you please take off my mask? I’d like… I’d like to look at you one last time, if that’s okay.”

I close my eyes, resting my head on the pavement as her fingertips curl around my mask, prying it gently from my face. Light, beautiful sunlight shines on my face as I gaze up at her—the woman who breathed life into these tired bones. Who showed me what it is to feel and be happy when I believed I had lost the capacity.

She looks sad.So, so sad. She shouldn’t look this sad, not when the sun shines so beautifully on her raven hair.

“Brett,” I whisper. “Sweet, darling Brett.”

I expect her to pull me into her embrace, but to my surprise, she grabs my shoulders and shakes me. “Don’t you say that!” she yells. “Don’t youdarecall me sweet! You get up, and you fight! You get up, and you fight for me, dammit! Forus!”

I remember the words I told her so long ago—how I would only tell her she was sweet on my deathbed.God, how I wish it weren’t the case.

“As you wish,” I whisper, an ironic smile twisting my mouth. I want to tell her—tell her it’s going to be okay. That this isn’t goodbye. That I’ll find her in the next life, and the next. That I’ll tear down cities for a single moment, a mere glance from her beautiful ocean eyes.

That I will love her. That Ihaveloved her. Throughout this life, the last, and the next. Tears are streaming down her beautiful, soft cheeks, and I want so badly to reach up. To wipe them away, or to fill my mouth with her taste, like I have so many times before. But I don't have the strength. Nor the time.

“You have made me… so happy.” I cough, finding it hard to talk through the blood filling my lungs. “Happier than I should have been. Happier than I ever deserved. You gave me… you gave meeverything, Brett. I wish…” I take a breath, wishing more than anything I could hold her one last time. Wishing I could kiss her beautiful raven hair or touch her lovely pink lips. Wishing more than anything that I could tell her that.

“I wish… I could have returned the favor.”

As the last word passes my lips, the darkness swallows me whole.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

BRETT

Ghost closes his eyes,and I shake as painful sobs wrack my body.There’s nothing—nothing I can do.

“But you did,” I whisper, pushing his hair off his sweat-lined brow. “You did return the favor,” I sob. The snot bubbles from my nose, making my words unintelligible. “You-you’reeverythingto me. Please don’t… don’t….”

I don’t care that Kain watches me fall apart. I can’t care. Shouldn’t, especially when he’s going through a similar loss as me. Horrible, choking sobs bounce off the arched stone hallway, each one growing in strength and desperation. There’s a hole where my heart used to be—a black, rotting, awful thing—and I want nothing more than to reach my hand in and tear out the necrosis.I’ve lost him. Lostthe only man I’ve loved—will ever love. And I never even fucking told him.

“Brett…” Kain whispers, sounding unsure for the first time since I’ve known him. “Brett, he’s?—”

Ignoring Kain’s words trying to coax me back to reality, I rock back and forth, cradling his head to my chest. “I love you,” I choke, the words breaking my rib cage wide open. “I love you. I love you.I’m sorry I never said it. I swear, I’ll say it every damn day—I’ll scream it from the rooftops. Just… please come back. Please, I… I can’t do this without you.” I peek down at his pallid face, but no matter how much I want it to be, he doesn’t move. Not even so much as a flutter of his eyelids.

“No,” I moan, every bone in my body bursting, filling me with a deep-rooted pain. “No,please. Please, please, plea?—”

A scuffle to my left has my last thread of lucidity snapping to attention, and my desperate ramblings die in my throat. I raise my head, eyes wildly scanning the rows of doorways for threats. I start to think I imagined it—that the sound was just a product of my shattering mind—-but then I see her. A girl.

About fifty paces away, crouched behind the archway is a girl no older than sixteen, her snow-white hair piled on top of her head in an elaborate twisting braid. Tiny flower clips adorn the updo like constellations, their golden hue eerily matching the color of her large, wide-set eyes. Long, flowing white robes drape her body, the thick bundles of fabric drowning her petite frame and making her seem impossibly frailer.

At her feet are two white fluffy tiger cubs, their bright blue eyes piercing and wary as they watch me from behind the corner, assessing the threat of the situation.

The girl lifts a hand to wave, and the light seems to shine right through her translucent skin, giving the girl an ethereal, ghostly quality. Fearing this is some stress-induced hallucination, I try my best to ignore her. That is, until she suddenly appears crouched beside me, her piercing gaze focused solely on Ghost.

“He’s dying,” she says, an even stranger, melodic voice accompanying the girl's looks. “So is she.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Kain demands, trying to push himself off the floor. “Don’t you fucking touch him! I’ll?—”

I raise a hand, cutting Kain off as I meet the girl’s gaze. “Who?” I ask. “Who’sshe?”

The girl raises her head, looking over myshoulder toward the Madam’s personal quarters. “Oh…”

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