Page 230 of Crucible

Having complete strangers ask for my autograph isn’t new to me, so why does this feel weird? I guess because I stopped thinking of myself asthatAurelia weeks ago. The star. The celebrity.

The Aurelia I am now feels more human. She feels real and flawed. I can relate to her.

“Yup. Here you go.” Finnegan hands me a notepad and pen and tells me who to sign the autographs for. Once I’m done, he takes them back and slips them inside his tactical vest with a smile that feels slimy, so I turn away to face the ledge again. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so cool about this after what happened with your boyfriend. It almost makes what I have to do now difficult.”

I turn my head to see him standing closer than he was before. Much too close. I look him up and down, not bothering to hide my displeasure. “What are you talking about?”

“I’d have made it quick,” he continues to ramble, “but your uncle wanted us to make it look like an accident.”

“Excuse me?”

I feel a heavy hand on my back a moment later, shoving me toward the edge…

A sharp whistle is the only thing that keeps me from going over.

“Hey, asshole!”

Finnegan’s hand disappears from back, and I spin around with a surprised gasp, my heart racing with hope and disbelief. It can’t be…

It is.

Seth is here. And he’s not alone.

When I follow the sound of his voice, I see allthreeof my guys standing together. Thorin and Khalil are holding the two scouts at gunpoint while Seth has the shitter kneeling at his feet with a gun pressed to his temple.

I fall to my knees into the rocks and snow with a grateful sob.

Seth looks a little manic, but he’s here. He’s okay.

I notice the bandage around his thigh at the same time he yells, “You missed, bitches!” Seth pulls the trigger without warning and the mercenary drops at his feet. “I didn’t.”

I can’t bring myself to be horrified at the cold-blooded murder of the merc. I don’t even think I’m capable of guilt anymore. If I could cry happy tears at seeing Seth again, I would.

He’sokay.

Maybe the bullet only grazed him, or perhaps he was only pretending to be hurt so he could gain the upper hand.

Seth definitely has it now.

I can tell by the way these “hardened” mercenaries are scrambling for their weapons. I can tell by the way Finnegan removes his hand from my back to grab my arm in a tight hold instead. He brings me in front of him to use me as a human shield, and I let him because I don’t want him to die just yet.

“What the hell are you just standing there for? Kill them!”

“But, sir! Roberts and Sanders!” one of the men reminds their leader. He gets a bullet to the brain, and pandemonium ensues when the rest of the squad realizes it was friendly fire.

Finnegan killed his own man.

It motivates the rest to start shooting.

Realizing there’s no loyalty or brotherhood among their ranks, Khalil and Thorin use the mercs as human shields as they take cover.

Roberts and Sanders are dead by the time Thorin and Khalil take cover behind two of the boulders, leaving only Finnegan and three other mercs alive.

Seth has also taken cover, but only after Thorin shouts at him to get down.

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