The deceptions just kept piling up.
There was no time to bemoan that. My best and dearest friend, the strongest woman I knew, was falling apart in front of me.
I hurried to her from the room where I’d been pacing, gathering her up because she looked like she might sag to the floor.
I helped her over to the couch in Jann’s plush sitting room, and we both sank into it. Diadre’s cheeks were wet with sheets of tears. My heart shivered with a cold foreboding.
“Catch your breath, then tell me what’s happened,” I said, rubbing her back as we sat down.
She shook her head, swallowing, wiping her tears even as more poured over her lashes. “There’s no time. We have to… do something,” she gasped.
My stomach clenched. I didn’t tell her about my promise to Melek, but I held her hand and tried to help her calm down. “Just breathe. Then tell me what’s happened and we’ll deal with it,” I said as calmly as I was able.
Diadre’s eyes closed, and her head sank back. Her expression, already twisted with grief, fell into despair.Misery.
“Dee—”
“He just stood there and watched,” she whispered, shaking her head like she was trying to free herself of the memory.
“Watched what?”
She grimaced, and took her hand from mine to wipe her face again. “We were on the roof with the other Advisors. Thosebastards.It was the worst I’d ever seen them. They were… thrilled about what was coming. Bloodthirst and… andlust.”
I nodded, swallowing back the disgust. “You know I’m not happy with Jann, but I don’t think he felt that—”
“No, that’s the problem,” Diadre said bitterly. “He didn’tfeelanything.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
She took one deep breath, then met my eyes with hers, red and bloodshot. “One of them got soexcitedabout what was to come, he bent his slave over and took her. Right there. Right among us. Like a gruntinganimal.The poor woman—” She broke off, her face twisting with grief and the trauma of what she’d witnessed. “He was strangling her. She couldn’t breathe. Her face was red and her eyes bulged, and he just kept… kepttakingher.”
Oh God.I felt sick.
Diadre plowed on. “She was… she was suffocating. She was so broken—going dead in the eyes. I couldn’t take it anymore, Yilan. I couldn’t just stand there and watch that. Jann wouldn’t do anything, because he said if he intervened, they’d suspect him. So, I had to… I had to dosomething.”
My stomach went cold, but I tried not to let her see. “What did you do?”
She dropped her face into her hands again, and the words came a whispered wail. “I pretended Jann was raping me, too, and I grabbed her. Like I was trying to find something to hold onto, and I… I showed her, she nodded, she wanted it. She wantedout.I’m sure of it, but… God, Yilan, it was so sick. I used the Gravehand, and I… I held it.”
I blinked, fighting not to react, as everything in my body recoiled from what she’d said.
Gravehand was a move we’d only been taught as adults. A way to stop blood flow to the mind, and fell even the strongest man in seconds. However, to hold it…
Holding it was murder.
“Diadre—”
“She wanted it,” she whispered. “She was broken, Yilan. Her mind was open. I asked—I showed her, and she nodded—she couldn’t speak, because that fucker was choking her so hard she couldn’t evenbreathe!”
I reeled. Diadre’s hands trembled as she pushed her hair back and mopped her face again, but the tears kept coming.
I swallowed hard. “I know you… I’m sure you measured it accurately. I’m sure you—”
“I shouldn’t have had to. He should have done something. He shouldn’t… he couldn’t… Yilan… he’s shut down. Completely. His whole heart. It’sterrifying.”
I watched her warily. “What do you mean?”
She pushed back to her feet, pacing the floor in front of the couch, gesturing as she spoke, still wiping her eyes with the backs of her wrists. “He’s fighting. He’s been fighting the whole time. But he’sso scared.Lucifer… Lucifer threatened me—and the baby—and it’s…” she turned to face me, and opened her hands towards me, pleading. “Hever tried to help. I don’t knowhow he knew, but he knew. Jann was breaking—and he came here. Hever told him that we could win, and he told him how to get through it. But, Yilan, Jann isso scared.He’s convinced Lucifer can’t be beaten, and that the moment he makes one wrong step, the Fallen will come for me. I’m afraid.”
