“You don’t know that—”
“Katia. I’ve seen into her heart. She killed her own daughter. She killed all the chosen Larkin girls and fed my dad and all the other Mendoza boys to the corn. She probably killed my mother, too. She’ll never give her followers immortality. They’re just breeders to her. And when she transfers her soul into my body, I’ll kill anyone who tries to keep me from being reunited with Alonso. Including you.”
“Ashlyn, there’s another way.” Dane glanced up at the moon, sitting high in the night sky. “It’s almost midnight on the summer solstice. You and I . . . we can become blood bound.”
“N-no,” I stammered. I couldn’t believe he was suggesting this. I would never wish this on another person. Especially someone I love.
“I’m not just a Mixed. I’m half Alonso’s blood, too. It will work.” He gazed down at me, lips parted.
“And then what?” I gasped. He didn’t understand what being a vessel really meant. He couldn’t.
“You and I can walk the corn together as immortals. We can fight her. I know we can.”
“No,” I whispered, thinking it would be just as wretched for him to be Alonso as it was for me to be Katia. “I can’t do that to you.”
“You can’t or you won’t?” Dane asked, his eyes welling up with tears.
A long moment of torturous silence stretched between us.
I watched him staring down at the still-gaping wound in my chest and I couldn’t help thinking of Coronado overpowering Katia. “You could take it, you know. I wouldn’t stop you.”
“I would never do that.” He looked shocked, like I’d just slapped him hard across the face. “It’s yours to give, not mine to take.”
The gash in my chest surged shut. Dane opened a flask of water from his pack and poured the tepid liquid over my chest, washing the blood from my skin.
“Ashlyn”—he gathered my hands in his—“I’ll take your brother and Beth to safety. All I ask in return is one more night with you. Just the two of us. At first light, if you still won’t bind to me, I’ll leave you in peace. I promise. At the very least, we can say good-bye.”
I watched the last tendril of blood disappear into the soil and I knew it wouldn’t be long until I disappeared forever.
And I didn’t want to be alone anymore.
42
ALONE TOGETHER
QUIET BUT PRESENT, Dane led me through the wooded pines on the eastern shore, until we reached the clearing—Heartbreak Tree.
I knew what it meant. Why he brought me here.
As he held the branches open for me, I brushed past him. A prickling rush of heat swept over my body. I leaned back against the gnarled gray trunk, hoping the cool bark would extinguish the wildfire running rampant across my skin, but when he leaned into me, kissing my neck, a euphoric wave washed over me. Blood bound or not, Dane was under my skin. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk away from him. Not now. Not ever.
“Please bind to me,” he whispered in my ear.
“Why would you want this?” I broke away from him before I burst into flames. “Why would you want to be blood bound?”
He caught my hand. The end of the ribbon tied around my wrist coiled around his.
“For you. I’d do it for you. Think about it, we’d live forever, walk the world together, walk through time. If I’m blood bound to you, nothing will be able to separate us. Not even death.”
“But we won’t be us anymore. You won’t be Dane and I won’t be Ash. We’ll be Katia and Alonso.”
“I don’t believe that.” He moved closer. “I’ve always been able to pull you back from Katia. Together, we have a chance. We can overpower her . . . and Alonso.”
“And what if you’re wrong?” I untangled his wrist from the ribbon.
“Do you feel this?” He pulled me close, running his fingers lightly down my spine. “How can a feeling like this disappear? There must be a way for us to hold on to each other, through our blood. I won’t lose you.”
It took every bit of willpower I had to pry myself away from him. “What about my brother and Beth and everyone else? If we fail, they’ll never get out.”
“I can get them through the corn and make it back in time for the ritual.” He brushed my hair from my shoulders.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t risk it. I can’t bring you down with me.” I thought about what it felt like being in Katia’s head as she nudged Marie’s body over the edge of the chasm and I shuddered. “If things go wrong, we won’t be able to take it back.”
He grabbed my arms, eyes blazing. “If this is some noble attempt at saving me, you’re too late. I haven’t had a chance since the moment I met you. Tomorrow, you’ll walk the corn with Brennon, and Katia will force you to bind to him. Is that what you really want?”