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"Are you hurt?" he asked

"Where’s Paul?"

"He was here just a few o"

Andra pointed at the sword "He left it behind Where is he?"

Madoc watched her, his face expressionless "He went to die"

Morgan elbowed him in the ribs "You’re not supposed to talk about it Where the hell is your honor?"

"Fuck honor," growled Madoc "She deserves to know the score"

"If he hid it froan, "it was because that was his choice He didn’t want her to knohat he was doing"

She was stunned silent for a long second, then looked at Madoc "What exactly is he doing?"

"He went to go take out a bunch of Synestryn on their way back into the cave"

"He what? Why the hell would he?" She didn’t have time for that She’d beat it out of Paul when she found hio?"

Madoc knew She could see it in his eyes

Andra grabbed hi for her to rock hireen eyes flicked to the right, toward a thick growth of trees "Sun’s alh to do the job You won’t find hirabbed Madoc’s cell phone off his belt and ran as she scrolled through his phone book Her legs obbly, but they held because this was i, but he didn’t pick up She didn’t bother leaving a voice ain Finally, on the fourth try, he picked up

"Leave rowled Paul

"No," she said "I won’t"

He clearly hadn’t expected it to be her on the line "They told you, didn’t they?"

"Yes, and I’, barely able to make the words co to let h for my soul to die I want you sobreath

"I already lost Moht was tearing her apart She’d already lost too e

She plunged into the woods, using instinct to guide her She wished she still had that connection to him--that she could hunt him doith her ation," he said His voice was groeaker

She had no idea what he ation"

Brush and low limbs slashed at her face, but she pushed forward

"You lovewith hope

Normally, she would have pulled back and put some distance between them This was all way too fast, and she still had responsibilities that had to coe complication, not to mention the fact that if she ad to herself

If she loved him, he could hurt her If she loved him and he died, she’d never recover

"Yeah," she whispered, though whether it was because she was out of breath or because she feared saying it too loud, she wasn’t sure "I love you"

"I wish I’d known Too late now"

He let out a deep groan of pain She could hear it nearby, and a split second later, it echoed over the phone He was close

"Can you hear me?" she yelled

"Loveyoutoo" The words were so faint she could hardly hear the in the forest She wished like hell she haddaas barely enough to guide her

As she got nearer, she saw that the blue was his jeans She’d found hih the trees and fell at his side He was leaning against a thick trunk, sluround a few feet away Dozens of theashes in Paul’s flesh leaked red blood His skin was growing paler by the second His chest was bare, his shirt slit open along the right side where claws had torn it apart, along with his skin

The tattoo over his chest was bare All the leaves were dead, lying in a heap along his waist

The luceria swirled with color, but that was fading fast

Praying it wasn’t too late, she yanked the thing off his neck and fastened it around her own The ends locked together, but nothing else happened She still couldn’t feel hi

Panic ers to the side of his neck, trying to feel a pulse It was faint and she wasn’t totally sure that it hadn’t been her own, but it gave her hope