Page 85 of Obliterated
“It’s his first time in the Pit!” I snap, pointing my sword toward the gate, which is shaking under the weight of the Walkers behind it. “It’s mytenth.There’s supposed to be only one Walker for him, ten for me. One Walker extra for every time you enter the Pit. That’s the rule. That’s the fucking law. The law you all pretend to follow.”
“Iamthe law. The death of one of the Nine demands a different approach,” she says. Too calm. Too smug.
Fuck her. I can’t believe I ever had my dick in that rotten cunt. It’s a miracle it didn’t snap right off from fucking frostbite, she’s that fucking icy.
“And you all agreed to that?” My voice climbs, thick with fury as I glare up at them—at the Nine, or Seven, at the cowards cloaked in power and sitting on plastic chairs like it makes them holier. I scan their faces one by one, daring someone to flinch, to give me a single inch of hesitation.
They stay silent.
Then my eyes snag on a shadow in the row behind the council. One face I would recognize in my sleep, half-hidden under a cloak.
Halcyn fucking Roe, my commander, my… surrogate father. The man who raised me, at least the one who tried. Who calls himself my family. The only family I have left.
He’s here.
My heart vaults. My fingers fucking tremble, but I keep my face hard. She hasn’t noticed him yet; the small pinch Kieran gives my thigh tells me he saw him too.
Roe gives the slightest shake. A motion that’s almost nothing, a tiny nod of steel. Imperceptible for everyone but us.
Just a little while longer,that shake says,keep up the show.
And then he moves. Just a hand. Slowly, over his chest. Fingers curling with subtle precision.
Signing. That stupid thing he taught us when me and Tass started training for the Watchers. “Gives us a way to communicate without the others knowing. It’s quiet, quick, and private,” he’d said.
My breath catches.
This man, this unshakable,brutalman, has tears in his fucking eyes.
I swallow down the ache crawling up my throat as I read his silent words.
Survive, he signs.Survive…And then:I love you.
My breath stutters.
It shouldn’t hit me like that. I’m not built for this shit, for feelings, for sentiment. Forlove. But it knocks the air from my lungs, anyway.
I never thought I could care. Never thought I wanted to. But I do. Somewhere along the way, I let it happen. Slipped and fell into something messy and real. I have people now. Somehow, some-fucked-up-how… I have people.
Roe. Sami.Kieran.
Tass. She’ll always be there in this fucked-up heart of mine.
I have something to fight for.
Something to survive for.
Something to lose.
“Do you wish to defend yourself, Sergeant Maximos Skarlatos and Kieran Freyr?” Noura asks, voice carrying across the Pit.
Kieran shifts. His throat bobs. His fingers twitching around the hilts of his daggers. “You’re lying,” he says, barely more than a whisper. “She’s fucking lying.”
But Noura doesn’t even glance at him. Her gaze slices straight to me. Cold. Calculated. Cruel.
I shake my head at her. Once. Twice. Desperate now. “Don’t,” I mouth.
And godsdamn, I know my eyes are pleading, like some fucking rookie who doesn’t know better. But I know better. I know her. Iknewher.
