Home > Work > The Fever King (Feverwake, #1)
21 " No, no, now you listen—you—this whole time. The bruises—it was Lehrer. Not Gordon. Lehrer. He—I was fourteen, Noam! I was . . . but he . . . and I couldn’t tell anyone because, god, didn’t even need his power!” Dara laughed, a mad sound, and he wasn’t touching Noam anymore, had both hands pressed up against his own skull. “No one believed me. "
― Victoria Lee , The Fever King (Feverwake, #1)
22 " 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. "
23 " Then he pushed the covers down and settled on his side, curled in close against Noam—close enough to lend Noam his heat. Dara tipped their brows together and let their noses brush, Dara’s hand a knot against Noam’s chest.“Be okay,” he pleaded, demanded.He wished more than anything that he could force Noam to obey. "
24 " None of them spoke to each other after the decision was made, splitting off in separate directions to separate rooms, all coming to terms with the possibility this might be their last night alive. "