“I’ve killed before,” Skye whispered.
“I figured.” I replied easily, running a hand up and down her back.
It was obvious after watching how she didn’t hesitate to kill the men who’d attacked us. That hadn’t been her affinity acting on its own. I saw her hand twitch. Skye knew just how to curl her fist to squeeze those men.
And after hearing about the massacre from Willow, a lot of things started to connect in my mind. Skye wasn’t just having nightmares over her parents deaths, she was having nightmares over the deaths she caused, too.
“One guy was really young,” Skye whispered. “That one haunts me. He…looked at me like…in awe. Like he couldn’t believe he was seeing me. He called me phantom. They all did.”
I nodded slowly, recalling the radio call we’d heard right before Skye panicked.
“The men at the massacre…” Skye spoke so softly I almost couldn’t hear her over the water. “They called me phantom. They wanted me to go with them.”
“And you killed them?”
“They were hurting–” Skye stopped, abruptly, and my heart sank slightly. She was quiet for several moments, then spoke again, “I had to.”
I nodded, choosing to ignore her slip up. I didn’t think she was referring to herself or Zephyr. She was keeping something from me again, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it.
We weresafe. Everything was fine.
And yet…
I breathed out harshly, my chest tightening almost painfully.
Everything was not fine.
I killed some people.
Skye killed some people. Fuck, she’d killedLandon.
And my mother had tried tokillme.
“Aiden?”
Skye’s voice was muffled, like I was listening to her from underwater.
I realized my hands had slipped off of her, and I backed up against the shower wall while trying to breath.
“Aiden,” Skye tried again.
The tightness in my chest wouldn’t go away. I sunk down the shower wall until I was sitting, my knees bent so I could hide my face. My shoulders shook even though tears hadn’t come yet.
“Angel,” Skye whispered. She pressed against my side, her voice a soothing balm to the fire raging through me. “What can I do?”
I shrugged. I didn’t even have words.
My mother tried to kill me.
Remembering those last moments had my chest heaving as I tried to hold back a sob. My breath came in pants, never giving me the relieving oxygen I needed. This meltdown had happened way too quickly for my liking, and if anyone other than Skye had been here to witness it, I’d have been humiliated.
“I’m here, Aiden. I’m never going anywhere.” Skye said. Her arms hugged my shoulders, and I leaned my head into her breasts, her nakedness not even enough to draw my attention. My whole body shook as I tried to breathe through my anguish, but nothing seemed to help.
“S-slow it,” I rasped shakily. “Skye. Slow m-my heart.”
My heart slowed immediately, Skye following my request without question.
“I’m…f-fucking cold.” I said, then choked on a laugh.
