Chapter 156

CLAUDIA.

Should I trust him?

The question echoes in my mind like a mantra, repeating over and over until I find myself almost spiraling into the memories of Kiernan’s betrayal. It’s still so fresh. All of it. I still feel like I’m back in the old bedroom that I shared with Achilles, lying down on the floor about to be violated.

If I don’t try to gamble and take a chance with him, I won’t have any way to get out of here. But at the same time, if I chose wrong and put all my chips into this, I could die. Our son could die.

“What are you going to do?” I ask him, assessing his face for any kind of strange expression. But it’s hard to do that when he’s almost mangled beyond recognition. “Are you going to make up some story about me and make Tristan give me the potion? Is that the plan?”

His eyes go wide. “He wants you to take it?”

“That’s what I said,” I hiss at him. “Is that your plan?”

Kiernan stays quiet. All he can do is stare at me in horror. “No. No, you cannot stay here. You need to get out of here as fast as possible. I will help you. Just please… trust me for one last time. I promise I won’t fail you.”

With that, he heads to the gate and rattles it. The door seems to be welded in place and there is no way to get out of it. I think about shifting into my wolf form and ramming into it, but I would probably get caught before I could even make it out because of all the noise that would create. I look over at Kiernan and see that he’s scrambling for something in his pockets.

His clothes are sticking so closely against his ruined skin that it feels almost useless for him to be fumbling like this, but he does so anyway. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but then he straightens up and holds a little silver dagger in front of me.

It’s still covered in blood and muck from his skin but he doesn’t seem all that bothered. “Here. I think this will help.”

I don’t say anything, and he goes on to pick the lock on the door. I watch in silence as he works. I still don’t know how he manages to do that while looking like a bag of bones in ruined skin, but he seems to be doing well. His breathing is way off, though. And I can tell that every move hurts him. However, he really seems determined to do this.

I look around to check for any guards patrolling the area, and surprisingly there are none. The only ones in the whole cave are a group of people divided into different cells. Some of them are crying. Some of them are saying nothing. I can tell that they have been here for a long time and are most likely just subdued….

“Done,” Kiernan suddenly whispers. He tugs at my hand and I step back from his touch. A hint of hurt flashes across his features but he just says, “I opened the lock. We can go out now.”

With that, he turns his head from side to side and slowly opens the door. He squeezes me in through the cracks and closes it behind me, leaving him locked behind.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I hiss at him. “Are you really trying to set me up?”

Kiernan shakes his head so vigorously I'm afraid for a second that his entire face will fall off. “No. That’s not the case at all. It’s just that you deserve to be free and I don’t—”

“Enough with the bullshit,” I say. I take his hand from behind the bars and pull him out of the cell. “You are coming with me, and we will save all these people. Do you understand me?”

I don’t give him a chance to say anything. I just drag him out of the cell and take the dagger away from him. Thankfully, almost miraculously, no one comes in and says anything. It’s getting suspicious at this point, but I just go ahead and pick the locks for all the cells. I motion the people to stay silent as I free all of them. One by one, the cells get emptier and emptier until there is no one left.

Now the problem is… how do we get out without getting seen?

I turn to Kiernan for help, but I see that he’s watching something at the mouth of the cave. I open my mouth to ask him what he’s seeing, but then I see it for myself.

It’s Tristan, and he’s watching us calmly as the people crowd behind me in fear. I can see his smirk from here, and he’s walking closer and closer. To my surprise, he’s alone. He seems to think that he doesn’t need anyone else, and I wouldn’t wonder if that is true.

“So you proved me right,” he tells Kiernan. “You did betray me in the end.”

“I didn’t prove anything right,” Kiernan retorts in his husky voice. “You knew what was coming. That’s why you put Claudia in the same cell as me. You knew I would do something for her. You knew I wanted to make things right. You just did that so you can have an excuse to kill me.”

Tristan laughs. “You’re not a half-wit after all.”

With that, without warning, he barrels towards Kiernan. I try to get in the way but Kiernan himself pushes me against the people, screaming, “RUN! There is an exit at the other end of the cave. All you need to do is go down deeper and you will find it….”

The people follow suit and head to the end of the cave as he instructed, screaming and scrambling as they go. Judging by the sound of their screams, I can say that the echo of the sound does have another exit and Kierna isn’t lying. However, I still can’t move in my spot.

I need to help him.

I want to help him.

Tristan doesn’t even bother to shift. Kiernan can’t. I want to do it but Kiernan just pushes me back again. This time, he gave it enough force for me to be thrown all the way across the cave, several feet away from Tristan himself. “Get out, now. Let me handle this.”

“Kiernan, if we work together….”

I trail off when I see him calmly walking towards Tristan, who also slow down with a laugh. At first I don’t understand, because if he can throw me this far then it means he has the strength… but then he just squares up to Tristan face to face.

“You knew it was coming.” Tristan shakes his head. “I thought that our last moment together would at least be fun. But here you are now, basically asking to be killed.”

“So do it,” Keirnan urges. “I’m not useful to you anymore anyway. Or are you that much of a coward not to do it yourself?”

“I admit that I didn’t expect you to waive your loyalty as fast as you did,” he whispers. “I thought that your days in the cell would prove to be helpful.”

“I regret it,” Kiernan says, and I can feel every letter in those words. This might be the first time he’s truly honest with himself because I feel it resonating in the walls. “But it doesn’t matter. Because what I have done for you can be undone. You can’t bring back your people with my creation. They are truly gone and you are alone. Everything will just fall apart.”

Kiernan glances at me, and I can feel a sense of mischief in his words. What did he mean by that?

Tristan smirks, and without warning, he reaches for Kiernan’s head and snaps his neck. The sound echoes in the cave, followed by the thud of Kiernan’s body hitting the floor. He rolls over, gravity taking hold of him. His blind eyes are glassy. His chest is no longer rising or falling….

A part of me wants to think he somehow made it out. Because he did survive a fall into a pit of fire. He seems to withstand a lot.

But this time, I know that he’s gone.

And I’m alone facing Tristan.