Would I find closure there? Or just another grave to bury myself in?
Zagreus’s fingers drummed against the table, slow, deliberate. “Well?”
I exhaled sharply, setting my glass down before I really did break it.
And then, in a voice I barely recognized, I whispered, “Take me to him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ghost of Your Name
“No,” he whispered darkly, and something inside me roared.
What did he think of himself? I had played his games far too many times to even consider killing him. Though I was not capable or had the heart to harm anyone with that sort of intention, he made me feral like himself.
I didn’t care what consequences I’d face or how much I’d suffer; all I wanted was for him to disappear.
But knowing my luck and my fate in his hands, I resorted to the less violent path.
“You’re disgusting.”
Like insulting him would change anything. And like I predicted, it didn’t cause the germ of the devil to even shift withthe force of my push, but something flickered behind his eyes. Something dangerous. His lips curved.
He leaned down, his breath brushing over the shell of my ear. “And yet… you still haven’t run.”
“I should,” I whispered.
“But you won’t,” he said, his lips ghosting along my cheekbone. “Not until you see him.”
That shattered everything. The name was unspoken between us.Adrian.
I stilled, my entire body going rigid in his hold. Zagreus felt it. His fingers loosened, and finally, mercifully, he let me go.
But not before he whispered, “Don’t mistake your grief for hatred, Dolcezza. Sometimes the lines blur.”
I stepped back so fast I nearly stumbled, dragging my arm to my chest as if I could wipe him off me. My voice cracked. “You don’t know anything about my grief.”
He didn’t reply. Just turned and began walking toward the grave.
And even though every cell in my body screamed to leave—to run—I followed. Because somewhere in the sea of tombstones, Adrian waited. And this… this was the last piece of him I had left to face.
The graveyard was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet that felt peaceful, but the kind that clawed at your throat, thick and heavy like the sky before a storm. And I was walking into it with him.
Zagreus.
The name tasted like a curse. Like ash and blood on a bitten tongue.
I hated that I flinched at the shadows now.
Gravel crunched beneath my heels the more we walked. My pulse was stuttering, wild and rabbit-fast in my chest, but I didn’t stop. The scent of damp earth and rotting lilies filled the air, and somewhere in the distance, a wind chime clattered like brittle bones.
He walked ahead, coat trailing behind him like the shadow of a darker thing, shoulders carved out of war and arrogance. His back to me. His hand was no longer on my arm. But I still felt it. The phantom imprint of his fingers branded into my skin. Adrian’s grave waited.
My knees wanted to buckle.
Please… please let it be untrue. Let this be a cruel trick. Let him be angry at me for believing it. Let him scream at me for showing up like this. Let him breathe—
But no. This was the kind of pain that was too still, too quiet. The kind of pain that didn’t blink. And Zagreus… he just stood there, hands in his pockets like we were visiting some fucking museum and not a field of the dead. His jaw ticked once. No words.
