I catch him as he falls, wrapping my arms around his broad frame even as mine tremble from the effort. My body aches, power spent, soul frayed, but I don’t let go.
He grips my shoulders like they’re the only solid thing left.
“Skye…” His voice cracks. “She... she was in my head.”
“I know,” I whisper, brushing my palm along his jaw. “I saw it.”
His pupils are wide, rimmed with fear. His breath comes in sharp, uneven bursts. I’ve never seen him like this. I never thought Cassian could look like this. But maybe he’s not what he pretends to be.
Maybe, inside, he’s just as broken as I am.
I wish I could say this was the end. That reaching that fragile, loving part of him somehow drove the wraith away. But that’s not the truth. She still hovers behind us, like smoke trapped in a wind tunnel. There's no rage now. No attack.
Only silence.
And then she speaks.
“You’ve angered me,” she says, staring straight at me. “And I’m going to punish you for that.”
“Punish?” I manage to ask.
She doesn’t answer.
She smiles.
“You care about him,” she says, glancing at Cassian, then back at me. “So I’ll hurt him to hurt you. Try to stop me.”
Then she vanishes. No smoke. No sound. Just gone, as if she were never here at all.
The room goes still.
I turn back to Cassian, my heart pounding.
He looks like he’s been shattered from the inside out—pale, soaked in sweat.
“Cassian,” I say gently. “What did she show you?”
He doesn’t answer right away. His jaw tightens.
“She made me watch it,” he says at last, voice raw. “Again. The night I let my sister die. The night I didn’t move fast enough. The screams. The blood. Her pain.”
His voice cracks.
“And then...”
“And then what?”
“She took me somewhere else. Something I hadn’t remembered. I was younger. A kid.” He swallows hard. “My mom was crying. Begging. My father... he was a real piece of shit. A huge fucking asshole.”
He meets my eyes.
“She wasn’t trying to kill me, Skye. She was just showing me everything. Making it feel just as intense as the first time. What... what is she going to do?”
I close my eyes and reach for the part of him that’s still intact, still holding on.
The answer is obvious, but I don’t want to say it out loud.
If the wraith wants to hurt Cassian, really hurt him, she’ll go after the one person he still loves.
