Chapter 214\u00a0<\/p>\n
The clinical way he says it makes me feel sick, like we\u2019re talking about cutting up a piece of meat instead of killing someone I love. But I know Derek is trying to help, trying to make sure we do this right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We only get one chance, and if we mess it up, Tristan dies for nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan lies down on the mattress and looks up at all of us. His brown eyes move from face to face, taking in our expressions, our fear, our love for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be okay,\u201d he says, but I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s talking to me or to himself or to all of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah moves to stand beside me, and she doesn\u2019t say anything, but I can feel her presence like a warm wall at my back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her hand brushes against mine, and even though I\u2019m wearing gloves, the contact gives me strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion picks up the knife with hands that are definitely shaking now. The blade wavers in the light, and I can see his jaw clenching and unclenching as he stares down at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I can\u2019t do this, he says, and his voice is barely above a whisper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you can,\u201d Tristan says firmly from his position on the mattress. \u201cYou have to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be another way, there has to be something else we can try.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t,\u201d Tristan\u2019s voice gets softer, more patient. \u201cWe\u2019ve been over this a hundred times. It has to be you because you\u2019re strong enough to hold me\u00a0<\/p>\n
down if I try to shift. It has to be now because waiting won\u2019t make it easier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek moves to kneel beside the mattress, positioning himself near Tristan\u2019s legs. \u201cI\u2019ll help hold him steady, the wolfsbane will make him want to shift,\u00a0<\/p>\n
but if he does, it\u2019ll kill him faster.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The casual way everyone is talking about this is making my head spin. How are they all so calm? How are they discussing the logistics of murder like\u00a0<\/p>\n
they\u2019re planning a dinner party?\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I know it\u2019s not really calm, it\u2019s the kind of forced steadiness that comes from knowing you have to do something horrible and trying not to think\u00a0<\/p>\n
about it too much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena? Tristan turns his head to look at me, and his eyes are clear and focused. \u201cAre you ready?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Am I ready? No, I\u2019ll never be ready to watch someone I love die. I\u2019ll never be ready to see him in pain because of me, because of what I am and what I\u00a0<\/p>\n
can\u2019t control.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not what he\u2019s asking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s asking if I\u2019m ready to save him, if I\u2019m ready to try to use this cursed power for something good for the first time in my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready,\u201d I say, and I try to put all my conviction into those two words.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion positions himself next to Tristan\u2019s chest, kneeling on the mattress with the knife in his right hand. The blade looks huge in his hands, deadly and final and wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
9\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 214\u00a0<\/p>\n
*On three?\u201d Derek suggests, but his voice is tight with stress,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan shakes his head quickly. \u201cDon\u2019t count, just do it. Counting will make it worse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah\u2019s hand finds mine and squeezes, her palm is sweaty, but so is mine. We\u2019re both terrified, both trying to be strong for the people we love\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion raises the knife, and the blade catches the light and throws it back at us in sharp flashes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His whole body is tense, and I can see the muscles in his arm trembling with the effort of holding the weapon steady.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m sorry,\u201d he whispers, and there are tears running down his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he brings it down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sound it makes going into Tristan\u2019s chest is wet and horrible, like tearing fabric but so much worse. It\u2019s the sound of metal cutting through skin and muscle and everything that\u2019s supposed to stay inside a body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s back arches off the mattress, and a scream tears out of his throat that doesn\u2019t sound human.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s raw and desperate and full of pain that goes beyond anything I\u2019ve ever heard before. The sound goes right through me and settles in my bones, and I know I\u2019ll hear it in my nightmares for the rest of my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 214 Chapter 214\u00a0 The clinical way he says it makes me feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}