Page 56 of Love of the Bladed Dove
“I’ll find you,” he said. “Just go.” But she didn’t and he knew that she wouldn’t.
“Take her!” Theron snapped, eyes locking on Kain. Kain turned, stunned.
“Get her out. That’s an order. You keep her safe, no matter what.”
He could never leave any other man to give their life for him—let alone Kain. Despite everything, despite the chaos and bitterness and wounds between them, he was still his family. His blood. His little brother. And Theron would never ask someone to do what he wasn’t willing to do himself. If someone had to stay behind, it would be him. No hesitation. No regret.
Kain clenched his jaw, understanding the weight of what Theron had just said. What he was asking. With a grim nod, he seized Layla.
“No! Don’t—don’t you leave him!” she screamed, thrashing in his arms. “Kain, let me go! Theron!”
“You either climb or I throw you out the window,” Kain growled, dragging her bodily to the sill. Another crash shook the door. He was holding it with every ounce of strength the gods had given him but wood cracked. Layla’s eyes met Theron’s one last time. He mouthed it again:Go.Tears streaming, he watched as she gripped the makeshift rope and reluctantly began her descent. Kain a wall not allowing her to attempt to come back in. Then—RIP.The sheet tore where it caught on the jagged glass and the rope gave way.
“LAYLA!” Theron screamed. He watched in horror as Kain dove, his torso nearly all the way out the window. His body going taut as the glass visibly shredded his torso.
“I got her!” he gritted out, “I got her!”
Theron turned back to look at the giant splinter in the door behind him. Then with another loud crash, the hinges buckled, and the wood splintered more. He pressed his full weight into it, blood dripping from his arms, knowing what was coming. But he didn’t care. They were getting out. If he had to hold the whole castle back to buy them that chance, so be it.
Layla.
Holding onto Kain with every ounce of strength she had left, Layla dangled in the air, her limbs trembling, vision blurring with tears. Pain was etched deep into Kain’s face as he looked down at her, blood streaming down his arms.
“Just let me go!” she pleaded, her voice raw, cracking. “I’ll be okay. Please, go help him. He needs you!” She knew it was a lie. She wouldn’t be okay. But if it bought Theron a second longer, she would say anything.Anything.
Kain’s gaze flicked upward toward the shattered window, where she knew chaos raged unseen. The sound of boots pounding and steel clashing echoed down to them.The guards had got in.They’d breached the room. Theron was fighting them alone.
Kain’s jaw clenched at something he saw. Then without a word he yanked her up with a sudden, desperate heave and wrapped his arms around her. Layla let out a gasp just as Kain launched himself out the ledge and they fell. The wind screamed in her ears as her scream caught in her throat. Then—A sickening thud. Not her into the ground, but Kain. She had landed on Kain’s body.
“Kain?” Her voice was a breath, a prayer. “Kain!” She scrambled off him. Blood pooled fast beneath the back of his head, soaking his pale blond hair into a crimson mat. “No, no, no—please,” she whispered, kneeling beside him, cupping his face. “You can’t do this. Not you too. Please!” His face was deathly pale and slack. His chest unmoving, and for a moment, the world shattered.
“Kain!” she screamed. “Kain, wake up!” She was pleading over him. Tears pooling down her face as she begged all the gods to save him. To bring him back.
After what felt like eternity, she watched in utter relief as his eyelids fluttered. A broken groan escaped his lips. Layla sobbed out a breath, half-laughing, half-choking as she touched his cheeks. “Oh, thank the Gods…”
“I think that’s the first time you’ve said ‘please,’ Dove,” he rasped, wincing as his bloodied lips twitching into a faint smirk.
With her help, he quickly started to get up, but he staggered, nearly collapsing again.
“Kain, your head—”
“I’ll live,” Kain muttered, though the blood soaking through his hair told a different story. He swayed again, and Layla tightened her grip around his waist, steadying him as best as she could. Then his voice dropped, rough with something more painful than injury.
“We need to go. Theron…” Layla’s breath caught as she turned to look at him. Kain’s eyes flicked upward to the shattered window above, then back to hers, guilt etched across his face like a wound. “They broke through. They… they stabbed him, Layla. I saw it. He… I’m so sorry.”
The words didn’t land all at once. They crashed into her slowly—like waves, each one heavier than the last, until they dragged her under.Stabbed. Theron. Her Theron.
“No,” she whispered. Her knees buckled, and for a heartbeat she sagged beneath Kain’s weight. She turned her eyes upward, staring through the darkness at the fractured window above. He would be there.He had to be.He was strong enough to survive it, he always was. She half-expected to see his silhouette in that frame, his voice calling her name like it always had when she lost herself. But the window remained dark. The broken shards still clung to the sill like teeth. There was no movement. No silhouette. No sign of him. He was gone.
And yet—there was no time to fall apart. No time to cry, or scream, or collapse in the dirt like every part of her wanted to. Not while Kain was half-dead in her arms, bleeding from his head, limping on a ruinedankle and shredded abdomen.. Not while Ciana was still waiting for her in the trees. So she ripped her gaze from the window and swallowed her scream. Shoved it down so deep she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to pull it out again.
“Come on,” she rasped, wrapping her arm tighter around Kain’s waist, taking as much of his weight as she could. His breath hitched as he stumbled, the pain clearly worsening. His steps were uneven, barely coordinated. His blood smeared across her skin like ink as she dragged them forward. Each footfall was agony. Not just from the terrain. But from the truth.She was walking away from Theron. From the man who’d died saving them. From the man she hadn’t even had time to say goodbye to. She blinked hard, fighting back the hot sting of tears as she half-dragged Kain into the dark tree line.
He had done this—for her. For her sister. For all of them. And now he was gone. But she would come back. She swore it on every God she could name. She would come back for him—even if all that remained was blood, armor and dust. She would not leave him behind forever.
But right now… she had to keep the living alive.
Kain let out a weak groan beside her, and she held him tighter. “One step at a time,” she whispered, mostly to herself now. “Just… one more step.”
