Page 75 of Decoy

The fear cloaking my prison was thick and suffocating, as if the noose already encircled my neck. It wasn’t just the despair of dying, but the regret of leaving behind my heart that made it impossible to be brave in my final hours.

Last time I’d languished in this dank cell, I’d measured time by each breath; now I focused on every heartbeat pulsing weakly against my palm. Despite my hurt at Luke’s desertion I still loved him. I couldn’t bear for my life to end with any bitter feelings towards the one who’d been the most beautiful part of it.

In hopes of dispelling the crowding darkness, I struggled to cling to the light filling each moment I’d had with Luke—much preferable to counting my regrets as I’d done prior to my original execution date. Though my own failure had brought me to the destination I’d dreaded ever since accepting the advisor’s scheme, I didn’t regret the choices that had led me here, even if the memories had become tainted by Luke’s shock at discovering I was nothing more than a common criminal. Yet even with his reaction poisoning them, the memories still soothed my aching heart, a balm for the approaching dawn when everything would end.

Despite my careful measure of the passing night, time held no meaning. Only the memories of Luke prevented the tendrils of darkness extending around me from consuming me. I imagined him beside me, enfolding me in his gentle hold with assurances that all would be well.

Instead I was alone.

The sound of the dungeon door creaking open suddenly penetrated the suffocating silence. I stiffened. Had they come for me already? Dawn was still hours away…unless I was to die without the mercy of seeing the sun one final time. My fear escalated with the sense of the intruder’s silent approach, growing ever closer.

The faint glow of a lantern pierced the all-consuming night. I shied away from the light, too bright after having grown accustomed to the darkness. But my gaze was naturally drawn to the glow illuminating Luke’s taut expression. He extended the lantern close enough for the light to tumble around my cell in glimmering pools. He released a whooshing breath and collapsed onto his knees outside the cell.

“Thank goodness I’ve found you before they could—” He couldn’t seem to finish.

I stared, unable to believe that despite everything he’d come for me. Why would he…but I suddenly didn’t care about the reason for his change of heart, not when the remainder of my life was measured in hours, minutes, seconds; his presence was all that mattered.

With a whimper I reached for him before the chains binding me stopped me. Luke’s expression tightened as his gaze took in the way they dug into my skin and bound me to the wall. “The same injuries I saw on your wrists before…so you were in the dungeon just before we met.”

He crouched down and reached through the bars, barely crossing the distance enough to take my hand I extended as far as the snaking chains allowed. His breath hooked.

“Your skin is like ice.” He set down the lantern and enfolded my hand between both of his.

“The comfort of the condemned is of little concern.” But I didn’t want to dwell on where I was or why, only thathewas here with me. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“It was torturous feigning indifference. I only did so in hopes no one would suspect me of later seeking you out. But I could never stay away; I’ve been trying to from the moment I met you, and have finally accepted that it’s my fate to forever fail in that endeavor.”

His thumb stroked the back of my hand, still cold despite the warmth of his touch, a testament to how little his soothing presence changed my dreaded circumstances.

“Princess, I—” He faltered on the title that had never been mine. “What’s your true name?”

I yearned to hear him speak it, to be me for however long I had left. “Blair.”

“Blair…” Adoration cradled my name, one of the last remaining times I’d ever hear it. He scooted close enough to graze my icy cheek with his fingertips. “I’m here, Blair. You need not pass the night alone.”

I stared at him in wonder until he blurred with my tears. I hated myself for my weakness in not facing my impending death with courage, but spending my final moments with Luke was almost more painful than doing it alone considering it was an agonizing reminder of the precious love I was about to lose.

Without releasing me, he settled himself more comfortably outside my cell in preparation for a long wait remaining devotedly by my side. Though I was to die, at least I wouldn’t do it as a failure in what I’d previously thought mattered, but instead savoring what truly did: as someone loved and truly seen.

His curiosity eventually broke our silence, somehow comfortable despite the tension choking the air. “Are you truly a…criminal?”

I slowly nodded, but despite confirming who I was, his tender look didn’t falter. He took a wavering breath.

“And your sentence? Is it truly…”

My shaky grasp on the last of my courage slipped away at his sweet concern. My lip trembled. “I’m to die at dawn.”

Horror seized his breath. “No.” In that single plea, I knew that despite our myriad of secrets, all the games we’d played, and the suspicions that had shrouded our relationship since the beginning, he truly cared for me. “You can’t—you must escape.”

His expression twisted as he scanned the cramped cell before his gaze flickered up towards the window, much too high to escape from even if I hadn’t been bound. The shadows cast from his lantern slithered through the bars and stretched across the stones, poking around the dark corners of my cell as if to aid his investigation for potential escape routes despite caring little for my fate.

Upon finding nothing, he bit his lip and glanced back towards the direction he’d snuck in, an entrance undoubtedly heavily guarded. Such an obstacle would likely prove little hindrance if not for his aversion to blood.

Even without words I sensed his overwhelming hopelessness. “I’ll get you out. Somehow.”

“And rescind on your deal with the advisor, thus endangering your entire family by harboring an enemy of the crown?”

Desperation tightened his hand around mine. “Yes.”

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