Smoke tendrils curled in the air from the fire burning on the stake.

He let out a bark of laughter. "Of course I'm going to kill you. After all, if I don't, you'll have me put to death. You're too much of a coward to do it yourself."

Remi stayed silent. Did he have such little faith in her that he wouldn't even consider she would value his life enough to save him?

"And therefore, with that said," he continued. "I'm going to rip you apart, drag out your innards, and then toss them into the flames so that you can never be brought back to life. Then I'll kill your sister, and the rest of your family. Especially that grandfather of yours—he'll be fun. I'll finally get my revenge."

Remi ignored his harsh words. She knew he was only saying them out of desperation. She didn't doubt he'd go through with everything he just said, but only because he thought he had no choice.

But what had he meant about her grandfather? How did he even know him?

Remi shook her head.

Killure thought he had no one but himself on his side.

He was trying to make her hate him so that it would be easier for him to kill her.

"If you don't want to be disowned and make everyone in the city your enemy, you'll give the command," Faye shrieked.

Other important people in the crowd added to that. The words of agreeable were ringing all around her.

"Darium was my business partner. Let justice be served by killing the Icix, and our houses won't become enemies."

"If you let him live, you'll be turning your back on everything and everyone."

"You'll be left with nothing."

"Enemies all around."

Remi really did hate crowds. Always had, always will.

She inhaled deeply. In through her nose and out through her mouth.

Resignation.

She gave Killure a small smile and then closed the last few feet of distance between them. His handsome, devilish features contorted into confusion and annoyance. Remi didn't care. She stood on her top toes to wrap her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his chest.

Killure instantly stiffened, his body going rigid. "What . . . what are you doing? This isn't . . ."

Remi could hear the wild uproar of the crowd and of Faye and the new lord. Their fury was deafening, but she managed to push them into the background of her mind and focus only on Killure.

She pulled back slightly and looked up into his eyes. They were a raging ocean, stormy and tortured. Full of confusion. He didn't understand why she wasn't running. Why she wasn't giving the order for him to be put to death. It would be easy—he was weak and only seven or eight strong men would be needed to take him down. There were plenty of willing volunteers in the crowd.

"I told you that you're my friend, Killure," she replied back plainly. "That doesn't change simply because you're in trouble."

His face froze. At a loss for words, he parted his lips to speak a few times, before closing them without saying a word. Finally, he got his voice. "You need to get away from me. If you stay with me any longer, you'll be giving up everything. I'm not worth that."

Remi shook her head. "You are to me."

He bit his lip, clearly unsure how to respond. He clearly wasn't used to such kindness. "Why? I don't understand. The word friend means nothing in this life."

"It means everything to me."

"And if we die today, which we surely will?"

"Then I'll be satisfied in knowing that I left this world standing up for what is right, and that this sick place never bent my morals." She paused, then added, "And I suppose that if we die, you'll finally believe me."

He stared at her wordlessly, dumbfounded.

Remi pulled away and gave the furious crowd a breathtaking smile. They quieted down enough for her to speak.

Her voice rang out loud, confident, and clear.

"Yes, he's with me. And while I didn't give him the order to kill Lord Gallanthus, I will be sticking by his decision. In other words, you won't be burning him today."

Faye let out a cry of surprise. "You're choosing that freak over your own family? Surely not! A life for a life, Remi!"

"What about mercy?" Remi growled back. "Why is that never an option in the minds of any of you?"

Faye stomped her feet, and tiny clouds of dust rose around her legs. "He showed no mercy to my beloved fiancé! Why should I show mercy to him?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Remi replied plainly.

"That's so impartial of you!"

Killure's eyes remained glued on Remi, as if he was unable to look away.

"Screw you!" Faye shrieked again when Remi didn't respond. "I want to see that ugly beast die, and if you're going to get in the way of that, then you'll die too. No sister of mine would do this to me."

Her words hit Remi like an arrow to the heart. Tears burned at the back of Remi's eyes, but she refused to let them out. She had to stay strong.

"If you won't give the order for your slave to be killed . . ."

". . . Then you will also die!" the new lord and Faye shouted the last five words together.

The lord waved his hand in a wide arch, and not even a moment later, an army of hundreds of men with loaded crossbows and quivers on their back emerged from on the rooftops. Each bow and arrow was aimed at Killure and Remi. The late Lord Darium Gallanthus' men. Just as Remi had suspected earlier, the army wasn't bonded to Lord Gallanthus, or else they'd all be dead. Besides, even one bonding chip costed a fortune.

Killure's broken wings caught Remi's eye, tearing her attention away from the army of archers.

Bent and distorted. There was no way they were making it out of here alive.

And yet, Remi didn't want to die.

She was not the kind to go quietly.

As she looked around at the faces in the crowd around her and took in the hatred in their eyes, and their lust for bloodshed, Remi realized that what she wanted most was to help these people understand that were was a better way.

They didn't have to hate, act on their selfish desires, and stomp all over each other. They could become something better.

If they chose to, they could become something good. All they needed was someone to show them how. Someone to light a torch and guide them out of their darkness, and into the light.

Remi felt something powerful begin to brew inside of her. An extension of herself that wanted to help. It was small and timid at first, but began growing into something much more powerful.

As the new lord gave the signal for the archers to fire, and the crowd shouted for blood, Remi pulled Killure to the ground.

His eyes were wild again, and she could tell he wanted to run and grab someone else to use as a body shield against the arrows.

"Wait," Remi spoke quietly, taking his bloody hand in her own. She fought to hold her cringe at bay when she felt the sticky red goo against her palm. "I . . . I think I might be able to save us. I don't know how I know that, but I do. Killure . . . you have to trust me."

She could hear the arrows whizzing through the air towards them.

Killure's wide eyes focused on her. Finally, after a few frantic, tense moments, he nodded.

Remi felt warmth swell in her tummy. He'd never trusted her before.

She wasn't about to let him down.

She couldn't exactly explain how she knew she could keep them alive, or what she was about to do, but Remi knew.

Something within her was calling—itching to be released. Something good.

"Cover us with your wings," Remi instructed him.

His eyes clouded with suspicion, and she could tell he was wondering if she was trying to save only herself.

Not that his wings would be much protection to her, anyways.

"Trust me!"

The arrows were almost upon them, and if he didn't listen to her, they'd both die.

After letting out a frustrated huff, Killure pulled his huge, broken wings up around them in the shape of a dome. A distorted dome, but a dome none-the-less.

Everything turned black, but when Remi stretched out her hands, which were glowing a soft blue, and touched Killure's broken wings, the blue glow spread across the outside of his makeshift dome and acted as a barrier.

After only a few seconds, she could feel her energy rapidly depleting, but she held on. Whatever she was doing had instantly healed Killure's wings, and was stopping the arrows from getting through to them.

Remi couldn't believe her own eyes.

She didn't know how she was doing it, but she was. Power was surging through her body like never before. She could even see veins of blue going through her clothes.

She felt invincible; like nothing and no one could touch her unless she allowed them to.

But everything was fading quickly. All that power rushing through her body was making her fatigued and weak, and she could hardly keep her grip on Killure's wing. Her arm was shaking wildly, as if it had a mind of its own and had decided to seize.

She held out as long as she could.

And then, when she couldn't take it anymore, her body drove her into a state of unconsciousness.

Remi's vision blurred, and everything turned black.