My chest tightens until it feels like it’s caving in. I twist my head, scanning the room wildly, like there’s any chance he’s here. Like he’d be sitting in a chair or leaning against the wall or standing guard like he always does.
He’s not.
The room is empty.
“Oh god,” I whisper, my throat burning. “Blade?”
Nothing answers.
The silence stretches, thick and cruel, and the truth starts to settle in.
He’s gone.
He has to be.
I shot him. I felt his blood on my hands. I saw the way his eyes looked at me like he was already slipping away, and I didn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop it.
I killed him.
The realization crushes me, heavy and suffocating. A sob tears out of my chest, raw and broken, and I turn my face to the side, pressing it into the pillow like I can hide from it.
He tried to warn me.
Over and over again, he tried.
He told me how dangerous his world was. He told me it wasn’t like the movies, that there were rules and consequences and people who didn’t play fair. He tried to protect me, tried to keep me out of the worst of it.
And I thought I understood.
I had no idea.
I didn’t know what monsters really looked like. I didn’t know how dark it could get, how fast, how merciless. I didn’t know how quickly everything could be taken away.
I was so stupid.
A sound makes me freeze.
The door opens.
My heart slams against my ribs as footsteps cross the carpet, slow and deliberate. I don’t look at him at first. I can’t. I’m afraid if I do, it’ll make this real in a way I’m not ready for.
“Awake already?” he says casually, like we’re having a normal conversation. Like he didn’t destroy my life.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Where is he?” I whisper.
He chuckles softly, and the sound makes my skin crawl. “That’s the first thing you ask? Not how you got here? Not what’s going to happen to you?”
My voice shakes. “Where is Blade?”
I feel him move closer. The mattress dips beside me, and I flinch despite myself.
“You really don’t know how this works, do you?” he says, almost amused. “You drop into a war without understanding the rules, and then you look surprised when someone gets hurt.”
Tears spill down my temples. “I didn’t mean to shoot him.”
“I know,” he says lightly. “That’s the best part.”
