I stagger forward.
The fire is coming from her room.
“No,” I choke, taking a single step before another explosion erupts.
Smaller, but strong enough to drive me to my knees.
“OCTAVIA!” I roar.
I surge to my feet and try to push my way towards the flames, but hands catch me from behind.
Isaak’s grip clamps around my torso and he drags me back. I struggle against him, twisting until he finally releases me, and then I stop abruptly at the sight of what the explosion has left behind.
“No. No, no, no,” I bellow, denial ripping inside me.
I take another step and look inside at what used to be her bed.
My knees give out beneath me.
This cannot be happening.
There is no way this is real. It has to be a nightmare, something I will wake from at any moment.
There is no world in which I am still breathing and she is not.
No.
This isn’t real.
“OCTAVIA!”
Chapter 65
Milo
Body recovered.
Severe thermal damage.
Visual identification impossible.
DNA confirmation complete.
The words repeat in my head like a chant I can’t shut off. In plain terms, they are telling me she is dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
No.
I pace the corridor like a caged animal, my fist connecting with the wall again and again until the skin splits and blood slicks my knuckles. The plaster cracks beneath the impact, but it’s not enough. It doesn’t come close to enough.
I want to drive my skull into the concrete and fracture it. I want the pain to be louder than the sound of her name echoing in my head.
They refuse to let me into the room. They have already removed what remained of her…
