His plea barely carried through the rain. "Chloe, take my life. Please. Anything. Just look at me."
I looked at the blood on Liam’s lips and the mud in his hair. Once, I had treated this man as my king.
Elias’s hand tightened on my arm, offering to end the encounter. I shook my head. I would end it myself.
Liam’s pain brought no pity. I felt quiet, as if a long fight had finally run out of noise.
"Your life?" The wind nearly took the words.
I needed to say them even if he could not hear.
I reached into my coat and found the paper I had carried for three years. Its folds had worn soft beneath my fingers.
Rain bled the ink as soon as I unfolded it. The heading remained readable: *Consent for Compulsory Bone Marrow Extraction.*
My frightened scrawl sat beside Liam’s bold signature at
