Page 161

Wild eyes glinted beneath the too-bright light of the work lamp. “That’s the only way this story ends differently. You’re not strong enough, but you could be. All you have to do is stop holding yourself back.”

Skye looked up into that too-close face, hair falling in messy, uneven strands around them both. “What’s the catch?”

Power always came with a cost.

“Well... you might just become a monster yourself,” said that fevered, grinning mirror. “But here’s the thing about monsters—they survive. Just ask her.”

He gestured with a battered hand at Cori, still frozen in the doorway.

“This is whathasto happen.” He leaned in, eyes burning. “You know it—you knowher. The only way to save Taly is to sacrifice first. Beat her to it. If you can’t see that by now, then maybe you are as dumb as you look.”

The lights in the tower flickered. The keeper paused, as if listening. “Damn it. The mimic is on his way.” A growl rumbled in his throat, more beast than man. He slapped a hand to the side of the table.

There was aclick, then ahiss.

“I know you still don’t trust me. I wouldn’t either. I won’t force you—this wouldn’t work if I did. You need to decide for yourself.”

Power hummed as the arcs of metal loosened and pried back. Skye bolted upright. He reached, ready to rip the tubes from his arm—and hesitated.

For a moment, he simply sat there, frozen, his mind racing.

Because he knew it. Down to the marrow, down to the sick twist in his gut. The other-him was right. He wasn’t strong enough. Not yet.

He hadn’t killed Vaughn. Taly had.

He hadn’t saved them all at Crescent Canyon. It was Ivain.

He kept falling short, no matter how hard he tried. Always a moment too late. Always needing someone else to finish what he couldn’t.

The keeper leaned close, no longer smiling. There were no jokes. No shared innuendo. Only bleak reality staring back—many of them, if he was to be believed.

And one last horrible question.

“What would you sacrifice to save her?”

Skye’s fists tightened. Anger burned hot, fear clawed at the edges, but something stronger was rising to meet them—resolve.

Later, Taly would say he did it for the wrong reasons. Because he did it for her, for the momentary flicker of hope for a brighter future, and that wasn’t good enough. At least, according to her own flawed logic.

Later, he would come up with other reasons. Better reasons, according to Taly’s criteria, that had more to do with his own wants and ambitions, self-actualization, independence, and all that other crap.

He would finally be able to put words to the feeling that had emerged beneath the horror as he looked up into the monster’s face that day. Into the eyes of that silver skull. That fabled, insatiable lust for more, more,morepower that beset all bloodcrafters in the end—even then, he’d already been infected.

In the moment, however, he did it for her.

It wasn’t even a choice.

What would he sacrifice for her? The answer was obvious.

Anything.Everything.

He pictured her face because it got him through it. It gave him the courage to lie back down on the operating table. To pull the metal arcs back into place.

Skye took several long breaths as his heart raced wildly. “Is this going to hurt?”

The keeper came to stand over him and picked up a scalpel. Its sharp edge gleamed in the light of the surgical lamps, reflecting his smile.

“Oh yes. A lot.”[iii]