The woman took one look at me, then fuckingscreeched, “It’s her! That’s who killed my son!”
The Crusader frowned at her, then looked at me and his frown faltered.
“You’re sure?” he asked in disbelief.
Lena Iykos,Aiden sighed.
“Yes!” Lena shrieked, and this time I flinched.
I’d never imagined I’d come in contact with anyone else from Landon’s family. The guilt that’d been eating me alive had slowly dissipated over time, especially after I learned I probably hadn’t killed him. A strong Telepath had killed him. And even if it had been me, he’dasked.
“Didn’t you see her!?” The woman screamed, and I couldn’t help but reach for my ears.
“Jesus, lower your fucking volume, lady.” Aiden called out. “We’re right fucking here.”
The woman shrieked again, clearly out of spite, and my fingers twitched a moment before the Crusader spoke again.
“Lena, we need to have a private conversation. Let the others down.”
Aiden dropped from beside me.
Just crumpled to the floor.
I gasped, my heart feeling like it would beat out of my chest. I caught Aiden, using my affinity to keep my strength, right before his head could hit the ground. On the other side of us, Raaz hit the ground hard, out cold.
I checked Aiden over quickly, looking for signs of an injury, but he was fine. Just…asleep.
Lena’s eyes bugged out of her head as I shot her a glare. She opened her mouth to probably scream again, but I’d had enough of this. With a flick of my hand, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she went down, her head slamming against the stone floors with a sickening crack.
The Crusader held his hands up placatingly, his eyes wide as they watched me. I held Aiden, partially on my lap, partially on the ground while I hunched over him. I didn’t even care that my dress was rumpled, the beautiful silky fabric a bit torn as I shuffled across the ground. I stared down the cult leader in front of me, ready to kill him the moment he made a wrong move.
But he didn’t make a wrong move.
He took several steps away from me.
My chest heaved for several seconds while he only watched me in silence.
“You remember me? Avery?” he asked finally.
I nodded once.
He blew out a breath. “Good. Good. I had no idea, that day in the Gulf. It was only when I saw you right now that I…” His gaze dropped to Aiden, and I hunched even further, wanting to hide him from view. This man was some type of monster, and he didn’t deserve to look at Aiden while he was vulnerable.
“I’ve never met another affinate that can block Lena Iykos,” he said, his lips twitching toward a grin. He straightened his sleeves, adjusting his cufflinks. “I’m impressed. He must keep you protected all the time, am I right? That’s incredible.”
I breathed out slowly. I had no idea who he was talking about.
“You look so much like her,” he whispered after another second. “Did she ever talk about me?”
I shook my head, my movements jerky and stilted. I felt like the world was tilting on its axis. My mother never mentioned another man to me. Never mentioned an ex boyfriend. Didn’t even have male friends. How could she have had a relationship with this man and never mention it?
She didn’t have to, though, did she? She’d been sick. My whole life, practically. She had good days and bad days, but a lot of them were bad. She’d lay down in the dark, ice pack to her chest with her eyes closed. Never sleeping, just…existing while in pain.
It was startlingly obvious to me now she’d been suffering from a rejection. Having felt it myself over last term, I now knew how quickly it could evolve into something much worse than an irritating ache.
I slowly moved to stand, thankful my long dress hid my buckling knees. Avery remained several steps away from me, giving me space. He slipped his hands into his pockets, then glanced down to get a look at Lena. Her temple was turning purple from where she’d hit the ground, and Ialmostfelt bad.
“She never mentioned me?” Avery asked quietly.
