t h i r t y

                                    

                                          
Smoke tendrils curled in the air from the fire burning on the stake. 
                          
He let out a bark of laughter. "Of course I'm going to kill you. After all, if I don't, you'll have me put to death. You're too much of a coward to do it yourself." 
                          
Remi stayed silent. Did he have such little faith in her that he wouldn't even consider she would value his life enough to save him? 
                          
"And therefore, with that said," he continued. "I'm going to rip you apart, drag out your innards, and then toss them into the flames so that you can never be brought back to life. Then I'll kill your sister, and the rest of your family. Especially that grandfather of yours—he'll be fun. I'll finally get my revenge."  
                          
Remi ignored his harsh words. She knew he was only saying them out of desperation. She didn't doubt he'd go through with everything he just said, but only because he thought he had no choice. 
                          
But what had he meant about her grandfather? How did he even know him? 
                          
Remi shook her head. 
                          
Killure thought he had no one but himself on his side. 
                          
He was trying to make her hate him so that it would be easier for him to kill her. 
                          
"If you don't want to be disowned and make everyone in the city your enemy, you'll give the command," Faye shrieked. 
                          
Other important people in the crowd added to that. The words of agreeable were ringing all around her. 
                          
"Darium was my business partner. Let justice be served by killing the Icix, and our houses won't become enemies." 
                          
"If you let him live, you'll be turning your back on everything and everyone." 
                          
"You'll be left with nothing." 
                          
"Enemies all around." 
                          
Remi really did hate crowds. Always had, always will. 
                          
She inhaled deeply. In through her nose and out through her mouth. 
                          
Resignation. 
                          
She gave Killure a small smile and then closed the last few feet of distance between them. His handsome, devilish features contorted into confusion and annoyance. Remi didn't care. She stood on her top toes to wrap her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his chest. 
                          
Killure instantly stiffened, his body going rigid. "What . . . what are you doing? This isn't . . ." 
                          
Remi could hear the wild uproar of the crowd and of Faye and the new lord. Their fury was deafening, but she managed to push them into the background of her mind and focus only on Killure. 
                          
She pulled back slightly and looked up into his eyes. They were a raging ocean, stormy and tortured. Full of confusion. He didn't understand why she wasn't running. Why she wasn't giving the order for him to be put to death. It would be easy—he was weak and only seven or eight strong men would be needed to take him down. There were plenty of willing volunteers in the crowd. 
                          
"I told you that you're my friend, Killure," she replied back plainly. "That doesn't change simply because you're in trouble." 
                          
His face froze. At a loss for words, he parted his lips to speak a few times, before closing them without saying a word. Finally, he got his voice. "You need to get away from me. If you stay with me any longer, you'll be giving up everything. I'm not worth that." 
                          
Remi shook her head. "You are to me." 
                          
He bit his lip, clearly unsure how to respond. He clearly wasn't used to such kindness. "Why? I don't understand. The word friend means nothing in this life."