The morning had been blissful. After fucking Nila, I’d tumbled into a sleep so deep, I entered a black hole of tiredness. I didn’t wake until late lunch and only because the gnawing pain of hunger drove me to service my other needs now my brain wasn’t shredded with lethargy.
Once Nila and I had raided the kitchen for roast chicken sandwiches and crisps, Flaw found us and demanded we follow him to his newly created triage in the east wing.
There, he’d redone Nila’s soggy cast, and stitched up the tear in my side. He’d also checked my vitals, and given me antibiotics for my fever. Afterward, he’d given me strict instructions to head for a proper check-up with my doctor at the hospital and assured me he’d taken care of the injured from the ballroom and had the aftermath well in hand.
I normally didn’t give employees such trust. But Flaw was more than that now. He’d proved himself capable and loyal. If he said he had things under control, I would believe him while I focused on more important things.
Things such as healing and shedding the memories of what had happened between Cut and me. Every time I thought of my father, my heart ached with torment. Was I right to do such things? Was I wrong to regret them after everything he’d done?
I sighed, squeezing my sister’s and Nila’s hands. I couldn’t think aboutthat.
Not here.
Not now.
Not when the very building I stood in stripped every reserve I had, poisoning me with sadness, grief, and insurmountable helplessness.
Kestrel.
Goddamn you, brother.
My eyes burned as I focused on my best friend.
Flaw had gotten his wish. I’d returned to the hospital. However, I stood in the basement of a facility dedicated to healing and keeping the injured alive, breathing in the stench of death. Above, the living still clung to hope. But down here...down here, we stood in a morgue.
A crypt where soulless bodies froze on ice, waiting for their loved ones to determine their fate. A terrible, terrible place where the lingering emotions of destroyed relatives and broken-hearted lovers said goodbye for the final time.
I don’t want to say goodbye.
Nila squeezed my hand as I swallowed back a growl, snarl, curse...sob. I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t unscramble my thoughts from Jasmine’s or Nila’s.
In the car over here, I’d had to screech to a stop, scramble out, and sucker punch an innocent tree on the side of the road.
Jasmine.
She hadn’t told me.
After Flaw patched me up, I’d searched for Nila. I’d dealt with my hunger and sickness, all I wanted to do was return to bed and spend days hiding from others, wrapped up in the love Nila had for me.
But that was before the phone rang.
That was before Jasmine called and told me to join her at the hospital.
The motherfucking hospital.
The same place I’d almost died and my brother...
My head bowed as I tugged my hand from Jasmine’s, squeezing the bridge of my nose.
Jasmine had received the call earlier. The one conversation no one wanted to have. She’d enlisted Vaughn’s help to take her to the hospital.
She’d gone without me.
She’d deliberately left me in the dark that my goddamn brother had fucking died.
Jasmine’s hand landed on my elbow, her sniffs quiet but distinct as she cried. “I’m sorry, Jet. So sorry. I came to get you. Truly. I entered Nila’s quarters and watched as you slept in her arms.”
Her touch fell away; her eyes on Kes, her words directed half at him, half at me. “You looked so happy, so peaceful. After everything you’ve been through, I couldn’t. I couldn’t wake you up.”
