Page 345 of Alchemised
She took his hand, squeezing tightly, as if she could keep him longer if she held on.
“Never did see Etras …” he said, his voice faint. “Sorry. Promised I’d—take you back.”
“It’s all right,” she said.
“Will you—take care of Lila? And the baby?”
She nodded.
“Don’t tell Lila—”
“I won’t.”
His hand trembled in hers. “Promise …?”
She swallowed hard. “I promise.”
He said nothing else. When she looked up, his eyes were unseeing, the dawn reflecting in the empty blue.
CHAPTER 64
Augustus 1787
HELENA LEFT SEBASTIAN WITH LUC, PULLING FREE the reanimation and leaving the two of them hidden in the alley.
Her only thoughts were of Lila.
The air was thick with smoke and blood. She could hear fighting as she moved through the city, trying to stay out of sight. She couldn’t save everyone. Anyone.
She had to reach Lila.
She neared the last wall that was intended to mark Resistance territory. There were necrothralls guarding it. Familiar faces. The field commander from Luc’s unit with a gash in his skull that showed brain tissue underneath.
Kaine had said no one paid close attention to whose necrothralls were whose. A necrothrall was presumed to belong to one of the Undying. If she pulled the reanimation from a few, she could use them to escort her into Headquarters as a prisoner, but these were too well armed.
She needed easier targets. She turned and fled, hiding in buildings, climbing and descending old stairs and evacuation ladders, trying to find a way back to Headquarters. The combatants all had harnesses that they used to swing and rappel through the streets, navigating the levels of the city easily, but she had to find a route on foot.
The necrothralls kept tailing her. She could tell she was being herded, hunted with persistent predation. She could not out-endure the dead.
She hid, crouching behind a pillar half covered in rubble, trying to catch her breath.
Footsteps came nearer. Her heartbeat was a drum. She drew a gasping breath and jumped up, fleeing her hiding spot. She ran straight into one of the Undying, all in black.
Before she could react, a large hand gripped her head, and everything went dark.
HELENA WOKE WITH A PANICKED gasp. Kaine was leaning over her, his fingers at the base of her head. She jerked away, eyes roaming, not recognising where she was. Her head was swimming.
“It’s all right. You’re safe,” he said.
She stared up at him in confusion, trying to remember how she’d gotten there.
Everything came rushing back. Luc. Luc was dead.
She’d killed him.
The memory was like being punched in the throat.
“What—what happened?” Her mouth was dry. She looked dazedly around, trying to pinpoint their location.
