The Calm Before (Reign and Ruin novella) (6 page)

Again, I nodded
but my face jerked into life when I remembered his back. "What
about you? Aren't you bleeding?"

Lucan grimaced.
"I'll live." He shut the barrel of the gun with a click and walked
over to where I was watching. "We need to finish this. If you've
had enough, go outside."

"No, I'm fine,"
I said, but I couldn't stop the tremor in my voice.

"Because
they'll only come after us," he continued. I knew what that
meant.

"Right, no, I'm
not fine. I'll go outside." I pushed away his hands and walked as
quickly as I could back out into the desert. I continued a little
ways into the sand, but not far enough to miss the two distinct gun
shots. I could just imagine Timothy, with his fingers in his ears,
and Leof unconscious on the floor.

And that makes
four.

Four people
dead; killed because I showed up. And one of them by me. How many
girls shoot their first man at 22? I breathed in as hard I could,
letting the oxygen rush to my brain and feeling the world spin as I
got dizzier and dizzier.

Before I hit
the sand I vaguely sensed two large hands catch me. They held me
tightly and lowered me to the ground in a cradle. I kept my eyes
closed. I knew it was Lucan. And I knew he had just militantly
murdered two people. But his embrace was soft and comforting and
for now, with my eyes closed, I could forget where I was.

And that shit
had just gotten very real.