Page 153 of Claiming Pretty

I held on to those moments, desperate and fleeting, as the seconds ticked down, knowing that whatever came next would shatter me completely.

Ebony sighed, the sound almost bored. “Enough of this. Guards—”

“I’ll stay.”

The words hit like a thunderclap.

My hands fell away from my face, and my eyes flew open to see Ty staring down Ebony, his expression as calm and resolved as I’d ever seen it.

Ebony’s lips curved into a mocking smile, first directed at me and then toward Ty, as though his offer was an expected gift she was pleased to receive.

“No.” Ciaran’s voice cut through the air, sharp and unyielding.

Ebony paused, her attention flicking between the twins, and to my horror, she chuckled. “Well, this just got interesting.”

“No one is staying,” I said, my tears momentarily dried by a surge of desperation. I stood, trembling but firm. “Ebony, let all of us go or kill us all. No one is getting left behind.”

But Ebony didn’t so much as glance in my direction. She smirked, her arched eyebrow a silent taunt.

Neither Ciaran nor Ty acknowledged me either. Their gazes locked on each other, a silent war waging between them.

Ciaran’s voice, tight with emotion, shattered the silence. “You did your time. You’ve made your sacrifice. It’smyturn.”

“No,” I whispered, my head shaking instinctively as the words clawed out of me. “No, no, no.”

But I was invisible.

“Please,” Ciaran said, his eyes never leaving Ty’s. “I have to do this.”

“No!” I screamed, the sound raw and echoing off the damp, unfeeling walls of the tomb.

Neither of them flinched.

Ciaran and Ty seemed trapped in a world of their own, a space where only they existed, where only their history mattered.

Ty’s voice cracked as he whispered, “Ci, I can’t let you—”

“Remember what we promised each other,” Ciaran said, his words a quiet plea, heavy with meaning I couldn’t grasp.

Ty’s eyes widened, the pain in them deepening, a silent argument spilling between them without a single word spoken aloud.

I looked between their faces, frantic, desperate, trying to unravel the cryptic exchange.

Their expressions were mirrors of anguish, love, and resignation.

“What are you talking about? What is he talking about?” My voice was a thin thread, shaking with fear.

But neither of them answered.

I didn’t exist in this moment. It was theirs.

And whatever they had promised each other, I could feel the weight of it looming over all of us like the edge of a cliff I was about to be pushed off.

“Let me make this right, Ty.” Ciaran forced a faint smile, though his voice carried the kind of resignation that made my stomach churn. “I owe you this.”

Ty looked like he might argue back.

But then his lip stopped trembling, the fire in his eyes extinguished as stone hardened over his face, his mouth, his jaw, his very soul locked tight behind a cold and unfeeling mask.

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