Page 64 of Savage Kingdom

“I’m sorry I have to bring her with me,” I whispered between gritted teeth, and his eyes flared. I cupped his cheeks and brought my face toward his. Tears streamed down my face as I kissed him. It was the kiss of death. With his lips, he told me how much he despised me while I tried to say I loved him. To say it aloud was suicide, but my heart was his. I kissed him with everything I had, all sharp edges, my tongue a deadly weapon.

This kiss was hope.

He tore at my lips, trying to inflict pain onto me, and I took it. Anything he wanted to give to me, I would always take it—the good, the bad, and the ugly. It didn’t matter—when your heart beat for someone else, it didn’t care if it was pain or pleasure as long as the person you loved was the one giving it to you. Our hearts took everything and learned how to synchronize the beat.

Tears slid from my eyes and landed on his hollowed cheeks. Then I heard it—the sound of an explosion to the west. My time had run out.

The camp erupted into chaos. The sounds of boots crunching, men yelling in Spanish, guns being cocked, more grenades explosions. Bas had succeeded in bringing our enemies to our camp.

“Don’t do this,” Gideon spat through gritted teeth.

I jumped off the bed, checking my weapons, ready to face the mayhem I had unleashed.

“They’re going to kill me for this,” Gideon growled as his wrists pulled against the restraints.

“I know.” The whisper was low enough that he didn’t hear how my heart was breaking. I didn’t turn to look at him anymore, for I feared that if I did, I would let him go, but then where would that leave me?

It was him, or it was the world.

Since I was little, I was taught that the sacrifice of one man was necessary for battle. They never told me that sacrificing the one you loved would be like tearing your beating heart out of your chest.

I was almost out of the tent when he spoke, words low but precise and full of hatred. He wasn’t talking to me like Gideon, the man I had always known. He was the lone wolf.

“You don’t care if they kill me?”

Tears streamed down my face, but he would never know how much this deception would kill me. To add salt to the wound, I took out a daphne flower from my cargo pants and threw it back, knowing it would land by the bed. I took another step forward when his next words halted me.

“I never felt anything until you came along. You better pray they fucking kill me because if they don’t, I’m going to kill you.”

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