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He needed more time. He needed to be able to get as far away as possible before the Ptolemy realized what he had done. Because he had no intention of bringing her to them now. Not after what he had seen, what Lilith had shown him.
Damien’s laugher cut through his fury like ice. He was looking at Lily with amused derision.
“You think… you think he’s going to return you? Oh, Lily, really. Are you really so naive?” He laughed again, turning his attention to Ty. “I have to give you credit, old friend. Sleeping with the mark, convincing her that everything will go back to normal as long as she plays her part—gods, you really should have come with me to the Shades. We can use men like you!”
The din grew louder downstairs, and footsteps began to thunder up toward them.
“You were telling me the truth, weren’t you?” Lily asked quietly.
For a split second, Ty was desperately afraid that she wouldn’t believe him. That she would have as little faith in his word as everyone else in his long life. Then he thought of the trust she had placed in him just by staying by his side, the way she had bared herself to him last night, body and soul. His eyes locked with hers.
“No, Lily. Not now. I can’t take you home. But I’ll do all I can to keep you safe if you stay with me. ” He paused, hoping she could accept the way things would have to be. “I may have to take you to the ends of the earth to keep you away from them, but I’m not letting the Ptolemy get their hands on you. ”
There was so much he needed to tell her… but not in front of Damien. Not until they were free of this place. The clatter on the stairs had moved to their floor, growing louder as the Ptolemy searched the safe house.
The relief and trust in Lily’s gaze humbled him.
Slowly, she nodded. “Okay,” she said.
Could she love him back, he wondered? He thought she could, if they were given the opportunity to try. He’d walk through Damien to get that chance if he had to.
Damien watched the two of them, his mouth curled into a disgusted sneer.
“I should just let the Ptolemy have the both of you. This is foul,” he said.
Ty looked at Lily. “If they’ve sent more Cait Sith to hunt us down, I can probably convince them to help us get out of here. ”
“Please,” Damien said flatly, getting gracefully to his feet. “You think they’re going to send your blood brothers and sisters after their hero? These are highbloods out for you tonight, Ty. And you know as well as I how they love a little cat hunt from time to time. ”
Ty bared his fangs at Damien and threw off the covers, leaping to his feet and snatching up his crumpled jeans.
“Are we going to fight now?” he asked Damien as he slid them on, noting that Lily had followed suit, quickly and silently pulling on her clothes. “Because you might want to get on with it before the door bursts open and we have company. ”
Damien considered him with a typically inscrutable expression. He hadn’t changed much, Ty decided as he pulled on his shirt. Damien was only predictable in his unpredictability. He might go for the throat at a moment’s notice. Or he might, on a whim, lend a hand.
Maybe it was out of hatred for highbloods in general, or Ptolemy specifically. Maybe it was their long-ago friendship. But Damien chose the latter.
“Hmm. I’m being paid quite a bit of money to kill the two of you. And the Ptolemy showing up to drag you off is going to ruin that. How about this? Leave with me, and I’ll try to kill you once we find a better spot. Makes it fair. ”
“You’re a twisted bastard, Damien. What do you care about fair?” growled Ty, catching Lily’s hand in his.
Damien gave a shrug. “Follow me, if you will. Otherwise, you can piss off. Have fun explaining yourself to Arsinöe. ” He melted into his feline form and leaped to the door leading into Jaden’s room.
Ty looked at Lily. “I’m not seeing much of a choice here. ”
Doors slammed open perilously close to their room. The safe house had been practically empty, and the Ptolemy hunting party had picked up speed. If Damien knew another way out, they needed to take it.
“How do we get out?” Lily breathed, her eyes wide as voices sounded right down the hall now. It was the blasted speed the Ptolemy had been blessed with.
“Here, kitty kitty! We know you’re in here!”
A loud bang. The sounds of furniture being overturned.
“Come on. ” Ty dragged Lily through Jaden’s door, true fear beginning to bloom in his chest. If they were caught… They couldn’t be caught, damn it, not now!
They found Damien, still in cat form and wearing an “I knew you’d come” face, licking one paw in the center of the room. He placed a paw on a knot down low on the far wall, and a piece of it slid to one side, just enough to fit a human and certainly enough to fit a cat. Damien dashed through. The Ptolemy were right outside the door.
Ty pulled, but Lily stopped short. There was an expression he had never seen before on her face.
“Come out, kitty, or it won’t be just the collar for you! We’re thinking we might skin you alive while the woman watches! What do you think of that, eh?” Slam. Crash.
“They’re never going to stop hunting us now. I made it so you can’t go back. I didn’t mean to—”
Her guilt shamed him. “I don’t care, Lily. We’ll keep running until they give up or we find another way. I know what we have to do now. All I need is you. Now come on, they’re nearly here!”
“They’re too close. You’ll get yourself killed for me. ” She looked to be on the verge of tears.
“You’re worth it,” he told her. Desperate to get her hidden, to get away, Ty pulled Lily forward. As he plunged into the hidden stairwell, though, Lily’s hand slipped from his. He heard her voice right behind him and knew the words would haunt him forever.
“I’m not worth dying for. It’s too late. Please understand… I love you. ”
His eyes widened in horror as the wall slammed shut behind him, and he heard the door beyond burst open a split second later, the room filling with shouts.
“My name is Lily Quinn,” he heard her say. “I need to see Queen Arsinöe immediately. I’m the Seer she’s been looking for. ”
Ty stayed frozen, his mind reeling. What the bloody hell did she think she was doing?
Telling him she loved him, and then…
Saving his life. But in doing that, she might very well have sacrificed her own. And she knew it. Wild, terrified rage filled him. She was right on the other side of the wall, surrounded by powerful highbloods who would break him in a millisecond if they saw him, and still it was all he could do not to hurl himself into their midst.
“Don’t be a fool, Tynan,” Damien hissed in the darkness. “She’s given you a fighting chance to survive, gods know why. I’d say use it. Stay, and they’ll likely kill you on the spot. I hear things have gotten interesting for the Cait in your overlong absence. You’re safe with me. For now. ”
Though his newly awakened heart railed against it, Ty knew Damien spoke true. He couldn’t stay here. Shifting into his feline form, Ty forced himself to vanish down the winding stairs and into the darkness.
In the pitch-dark alley, Lily spared a final glance at the shadowy safe house, hoping that Ty was safe, that he might someday forgive her for what she had done. The only thing that eased the terrible pain of leaving him was knowing that she had bought him time to run.
In those last moments together, she’d known the truth: The Ptolemy had gotten too close for escape. So she had given Ty the only gifts she could.
Her love. And, she hoped, his freedom.
Lily allowed herself to be bundled into one of a line of long black town cars, the sort that politicians and dignitaries were always being driven around in. She tried to relax into the leather seat, grateful for the lack of company and the silent driver. But she couldn’t help turning around to look, one l
ast time, as the car began to move.
She had broken his chains, Lily thought, like the woman who seemed to be her ancestor had said. But it seemed like she was going to be standing alone after all.
With silent tears rolling down her cheeks, Lily hoped she had done the right thing.
Because from here on out, hope was all she had.
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
TY WATCHED FROM BEHIND a rancid Dumpster as Lily was put into one of the Ptolemy cars. She looked grim, and determined, and absolutely beautiful.
“Don’t. Don’t stand here hating yourself. It’s such an incredible waste of energy, and besides, it’s annoying. ”
Damien’s voice sounded clearly in his head, only fueling the helpless rage roiling inside of Ty as he watched Lily’s car pull away from the curb, followed by a small line of identical cars. It looked absurdly like a head of state was visiting this godforsaken little corner of Chicago.
“I have to go get her. ” He pushed the thought at Damien, who swished his tail in response and didn’t bother to turn.
“Don’t be an ass. It’s over. You’ll never get her now. Especially not once they realize she’s branded with the mark of the Lilim. And I think you’re forgetting that you and I have some unfinished business to attend to. Shall we?”
When the last car had pulled away, leaving the alley dark and empty, Ty slipped out from behind the Dumpster and assumed his human form. Damien did the same. That moment of vulnerability, when fur became flesh, was the opening Ty had been waiting for since he’d found the Shade perched at the edge of his bed. With the lightning-fast reflexes he’d honed so well over the years, Ty sprang in an instant. Vicious pleasure coursed through him as his fist connected with Damien’s face.
Damien staggered back but righted himself quickly, then bared his teeth and hissed.
“Cheating. Not like you. ” He went for a right hook, but Ty, expecting it, easily ducked it.
“You don’t know me anymore,” Ty snarled. All the anguish he felt at Lily’s decision to sacrifice herself for him, all the fury he felt for the ones who had taken her, channeled themselves into a bloodlust that knew no boundaries. And Damien, who had hunted them mercilessly, made an excellent first target.