" Dara. Please. I—you know I don’t want this, but I have to. We don’t have any other—”
“Choice?” Dara’s mouth twisted in a sardonic knot. “But you do have a choice, Álvaro. You’ve always had a choice. And if you walk away from me right now, you’re choosing him.”
He wasn’t.
Noam would never choose him.
But if he stayed here with Dara . . .
They still didn’t know how to defeat Lehrer. The vaccine was probably worthless. And fevermad or not, Lehrer was still strong enough to kill Noam easy.
If Noam stayed here, he might live another few weeks. But then they’d all die, every one of them. Including anyone else Lehrer had infected or killed in the name of the Carolinian cause.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, but Dara wouldn’t look at him now. Wouldn’t say a word.
Dara pushed past Noam and flung open the door to the bar, retreating back into the warmth. The door slammed shut behind him, and it felt like the last cannon fire at the end of a long battle.
Lethal. "

― Victoria Lee , The Fever King (Feverwake, #1)