Page 22 of Pierce

He sighed like a man forced to admit something he wasn’t proud of. “Frankly? I don’t.”

“Charming,” I grimaced.

“But Pierce does. My brother. He cares. Which means it matters.”

Pierce. He looked like a Pierce, too. “Your words don’t matter. If he won’t let me leave, he can’t care very much.”

“If you’re not willing to let us fetch your healer, you must not care very much, either.”

I shot him a withering look—to my surprise, he smiled. “See how that works? It goes both ways.”

I wanted to tell him how wrong he was, but it wasn’t possible. He made a good point. I couldn’t believe I had to die because my clan would never forgive me for announcing our location.

It was also unfair, and I wasn’t thinking clearly which only made my sense of anger and injustice worse. “I wish it would just happen, then. I wish I would just die. I can’t take the pain anymore.”

“My brother would never forgive me or the others if he knew we didn’t do everything in our power to help you.” His forehead creased in a frown. “Are you sure there’s nothing that can be done? Did he float the idea of a blindfold past you?”

“Yes.”

“And? Your healer would never need to know.”

“But you would know where my clan lives.”

“Damn it.” He punched his palm. “I can see why he was so angry with you.”

“Was he?”

“You have no idea. You have a way of getting to him. I didn’t understand it until now.” He reached for a bottle of water and uncapped it, then lifted it to my mouth. “Here. You look thirsty—your lips are cracking.” It was a brief respite in the middle of my agony. “Jasmine. You’re right. You’re going to die. It doesn’t look as though you have much time left. Do you really want to die? Don’t think about the pain right now. Think about… your life.” When I finished drinking what little I could get down my throat, he lowered the bottle. “Is your life so bad that you don’t care what happens to it?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I don’t want to die. I want the pain to end, but I don’t want to die.”

“I thought so.” He looked out through the bars, down the tunnel.

I could just make out the sound of footsteps as someone approached.

Smoke jumped up and moved to the other side of the cell. Like he didn’t want whoever was coming—likely Pierce—to see us so close together.

Why was that?

Sure enough, it was Pierce who entered the cell.

I saw the resemblance between him and his brother, though Smoke seemed kinder. Or saner, maybe.

Instead of glaring at me, he glared at his brother. “You came in here to convince her to talk to me?” he growled.

“What if I did?”

“I told you not to.”

“I chose to go ahead on my own,” Smoke smoothly replied.

Muscles jumped in Pierce’s jaw. “So, what? You don’t trust me to get her to come around on my own?”

“You weren’t doing a very good job up to this point,” Smoke reminded him.

I almost smiled--if I’d had the strength, I would have. I would’ve said the same thing if they weren’t both ignoring me. I wanted to remind them who they were talking about, but that would’ve meant expending energy I didn’t have.

My life was slipping away.

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