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"I haven’t been fair to you," he said, giving a rueful shake of his head "I’ve been lying to you all this time You haven’t even known my name It’s not Bowman It’s Kellan My na, brown eyes narrowing, suspicious Nina cocked her indigo-haired head in question, her look of unease deepening Only Candice aze without perplexity or surprise The sharp-witted, coured most of it out for herself the other day, when she and Mira had spoken The two of theht have becoave him a mild nod, and he cleared his throat to continue "You’ve known fro I couldn’t hope to hide froht you pulled me from the Mystic and saved my life Nina, you’ve known it for months You’ve all known my secret and you kept it"
"We’re your friends That’s what friends do for one another, Bow - " Doc’s voice broke off abruptly, and he shook his head back and forth, blowing out a long sigh "Friends watch your back You’ve had ours tooKellan?"
He nodded at the testing of his na as I’ breath, know that I’ll watch all of your backs And I want to lay it all out tonight, no more secrets No more lies I want you to know the truth - all of it And part ofin that room down the hall"
"You love her" Nina’s expression had softened to one of understanding Wistful and quiet, no doubt because of the love she’d known not so long ago Known and lost, taken from her by whoever it ho’d absconded with Jerey "You’ve loved this wo time, haven’t you?"
Kellan nodded "All my life That’s what it seems like I’ve loved her since ere kidswhen Mira and I both were raised by the Order"
No one said a word Even Candice now looked at him in anticipation "You are Order?"
"Was," he corrected "A long tio"
He told them about the destruction of his family’s Darkhaven when he was thirteen years old, how he and his grandfather Lazaro Archer, the owner of the place they now occupied, were accepted into the Order’s protection He told theht-year-old, pale-haired, stubborn little i he’d lost, refusing to let hi him to accept her as his friend He told the woether with the Order, eventually beco members of the same patrol tea to hiiving in to the desire they shared for each other, his world calimpsed his future in her extraordinary eyes
He told them about the warehouse explosion that should have killed hi what he thought to be the easiest way out - running as far and as fast as he could fro Mira and everyone else he cared about at the ti so careful,sure our paths never crossed" He uttered a low curse "And then the call cao off the e’d planned When I heard we snagged a member of the Ordera female warriorI should’ve told you all then I think I was still fooling myself that I could escape this That I could evade the inevitable"
"Sounds like you’re giving up, boss" Doc eyed hi a ood-bye"
"I needed to do what I could to see that the three of you had the chance to come out of this unscathed," Kellan said, not yet ready to talk about farewells "I want you to think about where you’re heading with your lives, after all of this is over"
"What about you and Mira?" Candice asked gently
He shook his head slowly, considering "I need to know she’s going to be safe too She belongs with the Order; that’s her fah"
Candice watched hireen eyes far too wise "And you, Kellan? Where does all of this leave you?"
He grunted, ith resignation "Right back where I started"
At least he had honesty in this moment, with these people At least he had a few precious days and nights with Mira, a gift that made any price he paid more than worth the cost
He had her love
She would always have his heart
"I think she’s finally awake," Nina said, afro that way, jolted into action by a sudden burst of pain passed to hi strides ate up the distance He opened the door and found the bed empty, covers pushed aside "Mira?"
He saw her a second later, on the floor near the foot of the bed Her hands rapped around her shin As soon as Kellan opened the door, his nostrils flared with the inhaled punch of her lily-scented blood "Jesus Christ What happened?"
"N-nothing," she sta "I edfor it" He dashed into the bathrooht the cold coers trembled shakily as she took the cloth fro serious, but the fact that she had stumbled - Mira, as sure-footed a female as he’d ever seen and a cout "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," she replied quickly Too quickly And the blood bond told hi under the sting of her injury and the dull throb of her still-present headache "Don’t worry about lanced at her face, at her eyes, which see past hiaze Oh, Christ He didn’t want to acknowledge the thought that crept into his mind He didn’t want to consider the awful possibility
"Mira" He reached up to her face, up near her eyes
Her gaze flicked a fraction but still didn’t come to rest on him as he prayed it would Her voice sounded so shtened "Whatwhat are you doing, Kellan?"
She didn’t have any idea He understood that without any doubt now
But he had to know, had to see the truth of it for hi to hurt you"
Carefully he removed one of her contacts