Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

back. If we don’t, she’ll just keep using it and take more children.’
    Lincoln looked down. He’d thought of this too and its absence from our plan was another flaw. Problem was, it didn’t change our predicament. The value of the young lives we had a chance of saving was real, despite what dangers lurked in the future. Logic couldn’t mess with that.
    Fear – likea slippery snake – wound its way up my legs and wrapped tightly around my chest. We could not win this game. Lilith had backed us into a corner and now we would pay the ultimate price. The most we could hope was that the Academy would come through with troops, overpower Lilith and get the Scripture back once we were gone.
    Lincoln braced his hands on my shoulders. ‘Vi, everything will be okay.’
    My eyes narrowed. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’
    His features strained. ‘Nothing. I just want to protect you.’
    I cupped his face in my hand. ‘I’m strong, Linc. With your power connected to me, I’ll last. We’ll save those kids.’
    He nodded, determined. ‘And you will take everything you need from me to survive every single one of those arrows, you hear?’
    There were at least sixty children that we knew of. It would be impossible to withstand that many arrows. But Lincoln was pleading with me and I knew what he was really asking – that I take more than he could survive.
    Is it for the children? Or for me?
    I didn’t know the answer, but for him, I nodded. Not long ago, I’d made him promise that if it came down to a choice between an innocent life and mine that he choose the innocent. I would have to stand by the same promise, even if it carried a truth I didn’t want to contemplate.
    He grasped my hands. ‘Once we get in there we might think of another plan. There’s only one way to find out.’ He seemed too confident and again it sparked nerves in me. In fact, since coming back from dropping Phoenix into town last night, Lincoln had not only developed an unnerving acceptance, but also a certain belief in the plan.
    Sensingmy concern, he pulled me to his chest. ‘I’m not afraid to die. After having you in my arms, knowing that we are together …’ He stepped back, his hands bracing my shoulders and his eyes locked on mine. ‘I was a fool to think there was any other way for us. I have no regrets, not one.’
    It was true for me, too. Right now I had everything and I wouldn’t have traded that for an eternity of life denying myself Lincoln’s love. We were soulmates in the truest sense, heart-mates to the greatest depths. That we must now die … That was irrelevant to our love. Lincoln was right – we were endless.
    As he hid the last knife inside my boot, I felt Phoenix’s nearing presence.
    ‘He’s almost here,’ I said. ‘And he has company.’
    Lincoln smiled, shaking his head in awe. ‘I can feel it through you, every sense like never before.’ His nose crinkled. ‘Never liked musk,’ he added.
    I rolled my eyes and his smile broadened.
    ‘What is it?’ I asked.
    ‘I can feel your emotions for him. It’s real and intense on so many levels, the way you care for him. I can even see how deeply he scarred you.’
    My brow furrowed. This was not a normal conversation. ‘So, why are you smiling?’ I wasn’t sure if I needed to start defending myself or not.
    Lincoln knelt on one knee to strap his own knife under his jeans. He looked up at me with a knowing grin. ‘Because what you feel for him doesn’t even come close to what you feel for me.’
    I snorted,though I was smiling back. ‘Ha, ha. Can you please get out of my head now?’
    ‘Not in your head.’
    I knocked him on the shoulder and he lost his balance, falling back. ‘Male egos,’ I grumbled as I walked past where he was on the ground laughing.

    I walked out to the front of the cabin. Phoenix was standing on the grass, looking resigned. A small troop of six exiles stood back at the tree-line beyond the glamour. Lincoln came out behind me and, despite our fast-approaching doom, he was still chuckling. Countless expressions passed over Phoenix’s face and through his eyes in one moment.
    He knows.
    I held my breath.
    But Phoenix’s reaction quickly dropped to zero. His eyes narrowed and he growled, ‘Let’s go.’
    I glanced at Lincoln nervously. He had also registered the waiting exiles, but nonetheless was smiling. I could actually sense his satisfaction in showing Phoenix that we’d bonded.
    Men.
    Lincoln’s smile