“May the gods find your soul.”
Brielle smiled tremulously, cupping my cheek once more. “Tell my children I love them.”
I wanted to close my eyes. But I couldn’t dishonor her by hiding. I tried to ignore the sensation of piercing her delicate flesh, of the quick drive home.
But my hand would not forget. My ears would forever ring with her last desperate breath. My heart would never forgive me for stabbing hers.
Her hand fell away from my cheek. Her blood flowed over my hands. Shaking in pure agony, I threw my head back and roared.
For a moment, the world grew still. The crashes stopped.
I gently laid her on the dirt floor. She deserved so much better than this. I brushed her eyes closed over her final tears.
I whispered my last promise to her and rose to my feet. I stared at the splintered door as if from a great distance as Renwell and his dogs attacked it anew.
Clutching the thin torch in my teeth, I hauled myself up shelf after shelf. Away from her, but still covered in her blood.
With numb fingers, I plucked a fireseed from my pocket and nestled it in the wooden frame of the window.
I shielded my face as I held the torch to it. Heat exploded around my hand, but I didn’t let go. I hacked at the weakened wood with my knife until I’d made a jagged hole large enough for my shoulders.
A loud crash echoed below as the door crumbled to bits and shadows poured in. Against all my instincts, I hesitated. I needed to see him—the man who’d already stolen so much.
Renwell’s dark eyes and pale face gazed up at me.
Without thinking, I released the rest of my precious fireseeds, and as they bounced down the dusty shelves, I threw down the torch.
Flames howled to life, devouring the connection between us.
I dragged my body through the hole, ignoring the tears in my clothes and flesh, and climbed onto the roof. My body remembered how to slide over the warm tiles and hurtle itself over gaps between buildings.
But inside, I stitched every moment, every feeling, into the fabric of my mind so I would never forget this either.
Because one day . . .
Chapter 24
Kiera
“One day,I would tell her son and her daughters that she loved them to the very end,” Aiden finished his story, his voice raw.
Tears poured down my cheeks and splashed against my hands. The pain was nearly unbearable. It tore through my body over and over.
Gods, the terror Mother must have felt. The horror she had to face.
I let out a quiet sob.
I didn’t know how long I sat there on Aiden’s bed, mired in pain so deep, I couldn’t move. But slowly, the icy waves slowed, and I could look at Aiden.
His eyes were red, and a tear clung to his lower lashes.
I finally understood. I knew Mother had already been fighting her own quiet battles before Aiden arrived. I understood her reasoning for why she didn’t run.
“That bitch should’ve died on the executioner stand like the gods-damned traitor she was!”
“She was right,” I said hoarsely. “My father would’ve killed her. Or used us against her. He made her watch when he ordered Korvin to whip me. I was the daughter she was talking about.”
Aiden nodded slowly. “I thought your scars were because of a misdeed you committed as a palace guard.”
