Page 30 of Till Death Do Us Part

My heart pounded as we walked, Vera’s hand clasped in mind. She stuck close to the wall, but I could tell she was breathing easier now.

My heart bled for how much she’d gone through. Just an innocent kid who’d had no say in what her family decided to get her into…

I knew she was loyal to her family.

But what happened when your family betrayed you first?

The cliff path ran for a long time, and eventually, we made it to a tight gap in the crags, where Vera squeezed through and pulled me in after her. A damp cave wound into a natural stairway, and we wound up until stars were visible through a hole in the rock above us, and a rope dangled down from above.

“Come on. This way.”

“I can’t climb that,” I blurted, and Vera turned her back to me, stooping a little.

“Just hold onto me.”

I wrapped my arms around her, burying my face in her neck as she grasped the rope. She smelled so sweet… almost floral. At first I thought it didn’t suit her.

But wasn’t she just a flower that had been trampled too many times?

She moved slowly with the two of us at once, but she tangled her feet into holds on the rope as she pulled us up, moving carefully. The rope spun slowly, sending the two of us spiraling as we climbed, but Vera didn’t slow. Didn’t even break a sweat.

Finally, we climbed up over a stone lip at the top, a well on a hill under what was now the night sky, long grass damp underneath us as Vera pitched us over the ledge and down onto the ground. Through the trees around us, I could see a concrete building peeking out at us.

The depot. Safety.

Vera collapsed on the grass next to me, lying down, her long, dark hair fanning out over the grass, and she turned to me with a glint in her eyes.

“Hey, Elaine.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you want to do for dinner tonight?”

“Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about all the small, practical things. I laughed, lying down with her. “Maybe pizza.”

“Shit, I could go for a pizza right now,” she laughed. “Just catching my breath a little, and then we’ll get our ride.”

She wasn’t tired. She was strained from the emotional exertion of pushing through what she did.

And she did it for me. To keep me safe.

It was because my inheritance had made me useful—that was it—but still. I’d never felt… valued before.

Never had someone who would protect me.

I held my hand up above me, blushing as I looked at the ring. Vera held hers up, too.

“Ready to go through with it?” she said. “Yulia will be checking records and tracking us down once she sees we were lying.”

“Mm…” Was I ready? To get married to an assassin who I’d met twenty-four hours ago?

I’d be lying if I said my heart wasn’t beating faster thinking about it.

“I’m ready,” I said. She chuckled.

“Never thought I’d get married.”

“I always wanted to…”