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I tried to move my head, shifting it through the pain. There was a ringing in my ears so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else. And I felt like everything moved in slow motion then. I lifted my head, just barely. In the distance, I watched Edith, racing toward me, katana up in the air as though she was about to strike. But she didn’t get far. A bomb exploded near her, sending her flying, tumbling to the ground, and motionless.

No!

I turned a little more and saw Matias, still battling two soldiers, but one had Matias in a chokehold while the other landed a punch to his gut. The beatings he’d already taken marred his beautiful face.Oh my god!

“Matias!” The scream escaped me. I wanted to go to him, to help him. I began crawling along the ground, barely getting my left arm to respond.

“Now where do you thinkyou’regoing?”

I didn’t even get the chance to look up. Before I knew it, I was getting another firm kick, this time to the ribs. The air escaped my lungs as I rolled onto my back, my eyes squeezed tightly shut. And then I was being pulled by my hair again. The soldier had a fist full of it, right at the roots at the top of my head. My one good arm flew up to his wrist, trying to keep the hairs from being pulled right out of my scalp. I was being pulled up, lifted onto my knees, and then my head was tipped back so I was staring up at the orange-hued night sky. The Telvian came into view, followed by the glint of metal in his hand. He brought the barrel of his pistol to my face, resting it right in the center of my forehead. I watched him cock back the hammer as I closed my eyes.

“Rot in hell, bitch.” Then I heard the blast ring out.

53: When the World Goes Round

Theringingwastheworst part. If I thought it had been loud before, it was damn well deafening now. I seriously thought being shot—in the face—was going to hurt like hell. In fact, I was pretty shocked that I wasn’t dead instantly.

I wasn’t.

I was very much alive and in a shitload of pain. And, as it turned out, had notactuallybeen shot.

The pull on my scalp was released, and as it did, I fell back to the ground in a twisted mess. If I had any doubt before, there was none now—the bastard had cracked at least a few of my ribs, and there was something fierce going on with my left shoulder. My face felt tight, swollen from the kick to the jaw. But as my brain scanned my body for injuries, nothing registered as a gunshot wound.

A plopping noise offended my ears, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the Telvian soldier had collapsed in front of me, dead. And just past him was Wes, gun pointed, a small trail of smoke coming off the barrel. Wes holstered the handgun and was on me before I could so much as exhale.

“Hold on, Mara.” He leaned down and scooped me up into his arms, one around my back and the other under my knees. “Just hang on. I’m getting you out of here.” He tucked me into him, my head landing in the crook of his neck. I could feel his heart pound against my battered body.

“But Matias,” I began, trying to lift my head to find him. Wes was quick on his feet, spinning around and finding the strength to run across the battlefield.

“Matias can handle himself,” he growled at me.

“No!” We couldn’t leave him behind. And Edith, what about her? She had to still be alive. I wiggled in his arms, trying to get myself out of his embrace. “We can’t leave them!”

He gripped me tighter. “We’re doing this, Mara. There’s no time.” His voice was strained, probably from trying to hold me and run at the same time.

“No!” I tried to arch my back, trying to throw him off balance so he would let me go.

“Damn it, Mara, knock it off!” He held me tighter, this time causing pain where he held me. He was still running, and I glanced back to see that the camp was now behind us, growing smaller as he started running uphill, up the trail we had all so desperately been trying to reach.

“Wes, please!” I begged, sobs racking my body as a fresh wave of tears filled my vision. All I could envision was Edith, a motionless lump on the floor, and Matias…Oh my god, Matias.He was probably dead. “Please!”

But he didn’t let go. He just held on harder, never so much as slowing down.

“Wes!” I screamed. “Let me go! Now!” But when he still wouldn’t listen, I did the only thing I could think of. “Your brother never would have run away from his friends!”

That did it. I could feel him stiffen, his arms shaking before he slowed and almost—almost—threw me to the ground. I landed on my feet, staggering back. I felt dizzy suddenly, becoming acutely aware of how faint I was feeling.I looked at him, his body stiff and rigid, his hands on either side of his body, rolled into fists. And his face, that face that looked identical to Chase’s, was twisted in hurt…so much pain. And I felt so guilty. Because I knew exactly what I did. I did to him what everyone did to him—compared him. Compared him to his brother, the one he believed everyone wished had lived while he had died.

I put my hands up, taking a step toward him, “Oh my god, Wes, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. It’s just—”

“Don’t.” He wouldn’t look at me. He just kept staring at the floor.

I held my ground but brought my hands up to my mouth, my one arm grinding in pain as I did. “I’m sorry, but we have to go back. We have to help—”

“I know you don’t like me, and that’s okay.”

“Wes, I do—”

“Stop,” he snapped out. “Iknowyou don’t like me, and I don’t expect you to.” A hand balled into a fist at his side. “I know you care a lot about Matias.”