Chapter Forty-FourPresent day
Kiri's eyes stung with tears, and icy fear gripped her heart. “There's nothing for me out there, everything I love is inside this prison. The risk of death is worth it to keep us together, if only for a few more days.”
“Nothing is worth that risk. I've lost so much. I can't lose you as well.” Hopelessness numbed Raven's heart, and his veins ran with freezing blood. “Leaving is the only way.”
“I'll—I'll—find a way to beat her, for you as much as for me.”
“There is no way to beat her, we both know that. You must leave.” He held her tightly, relishing their final moments in each other's arms. Her eyes swelled as salty tears began to trace pathways down her cheeks. The sight of her pain forced him to look away from her gaze, to stare at the wall, trying to hid
