Nila looked over her shoulder; her eyes widened until they were as black and as soul-sucking as an eclipse. “Jethro—”
The pain and hatred in her voice sliced me better than any cut on my foot. I took a step backward, placing distance between us. “I can’t give you what you want.”
She shook her head. “You can’t or you won’t?”
I knew she wanted answers. An explanation. Facts on why her family was buried on Hawk land and how we circumnavigated the law to do things no one else could.
But what could I say? I was bound. Muzzled. Shackled, not just by Hawk blood, but the very condition that made me a reject in my own family.
The truth hurt. Fuck, everything hurt.
Her panic. Her grief. The throbbing pain in my feet.
I had to get away.
This was why I’d remained cold. Why I did what I did.
This was why I never let anyone get close to me and embraced my duties as a son over the cravings of my heart.
My disease meant I couldn’t let things like this happen.
I couldn’t handle it.
“I told you I didn’t want you to see this place but you fucking defied me!” Hot anger gave me somewhere to hide. “I refuse to indulge your feelings of self-pity.” Rage coated my veins, granting sanctuary.
I backed away, distancing myself from the raw fury glowing on her face. “Come here. We’re leaving.” I snapped my fingers again. “Now!”
Nila stood. Her eyes darted to the semicircle of death surrounding us. An unlucky horseshoe of tombs.
Her chest rose as a silent sob escaped her. Waving her hand at the other graves, she shook her head. In one motion, she asked a lifetime of questions.
How could you?
How did you get away with it?
Why has no one stopped you?
I had no answers.
My eyes fell on the graves.
Six in total.
All with a diamond chiselled into the remembrance of their tombstone and the ultimate mockery of all: a hawk perched on the top, its talons dripping blood down the face of the eulogy.
“This—it can’t be real. No one could be this diabolical.”
You’re wrong. The Hawks can.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Quiet.” Looking back up, I demanded, “Say goodbye. We’re leaving, and I doubt you’ll be allowed back up here.”
Her mouth twisted with black amazement. “You...I don’t have any words for what I think about you. How sick you make me.”
“Good. I don’t want words. I want to leave.” Storming forward, I grabbed her elbow, yanking her away from the cemetery.
“No!” she screamed, scratching my hand and backpedalling. A huge wave of anguish buffeted me. Everything she felt poured from her like a tsunami. I stood, unable to move as it drowned me.
Apart from knocking her unconscious and carrying her back to the Hall, I had no way of making her leave. I couldn’t handle carrying her kicking and screaming.
