Page 151 of Crucible
It won’t hold for much longer.
“What’s she saying?” Seth calls out.
“How the fuck should I know!” Khalil yells back.
Thorin ignores his brothers, his gaze remaining locked with mine. “And you?” he finally asks when the splinter in the ice spreads and reaches the tips of his boots. We’ll probably both go down at this point, but he doesn’t seem concerned as he says, “Can we still have our wolf?”
“I said I won’t run.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it, Aurelia.” Thorin steps toward me, and the ice breaks where he just was. Water rises from the small hole, but he keeps inching toward me until he’s within grabbing distance. “You want more, and so do we. Just your body isn’t cutting it anymore. You’ve given us a taste of the real forbidden fruit, wolf. Mind, heart, and soul. It’s the only way I can sell it to them.” He jerks his head toward Khalil and Seth. “And it’s the only way you can sell it tome.”
“You haven’t earned that.”
“Give us the chance to.”
“You haven’t earned that either.”
He perks a blond brow. “Are we negotiating or not, songbird?” When I hold my stubborn silence, Thorin gives in with a sigh. “Aurelia…please, baby. The ice.”
“So leave. Save yourself.”
“Not without you.”
I bark a dry laugh and blink away the exhaustion creeping in. “So much for ‘run, and we’ll let you die,’” I mock with a slur. “You hurt me, Thorin. And don’t tell me I liked it or that you’re sorry, or I’ll let this lake take me before I let you haveanypart of me.”
Thorin falls to his knees, and I don’t expect that.
Behind him, I can see that Khalil and Seth more clearly now. They’ve managed to gain a few feet. They’re edging to opposite sides—away from the splintering ice so that they can be in position to grab us both.
“Then let it have me instead,” Thorin says quietly so Seth and Khalil don’t overhear.
My gaze snaps back to him. “What?”
“You said we deserved death. Promise me you’ll take care of them, and I’ll make it right. I’ll fall through the ice and you’ll never see me again.”
“Thorin, that is…that isnotwhat I meant.”
He holds up his hands in supplication. “I don’t know what else to do, songbird. Tell me how to make it right, and I will.”
“You can’t.”
His blue eyes shutter. “Then take two steps to the right, and let me go.”
“No.”
It’s then I realize my weight is the only thing keeping him from going under. I hadn’t even noticed the crack spreading around us, creating our own little island while the water laps the surface. It makes sense now why Khalil and Seth separated. They’re hoping to grab us both at the same time. But if one of them is too slow…
I eye Khalil as he reaches me and then Seth as he reaches Thorin.
Khalil is faster. They must have known that.
It means Khalil and Seth chose me over their own brother, and Thorin chose me over himself.
When my blurry gaze returns to Thorin, my tormented heart punches against my chest, and the mob of unspoken words that I’ve been too cowardly, stubborn, and prideful to speak burst free.
“I—”
I’m too late.
