And she’d said that only the worthwhile things were the most frightening.
Forgive me, Evelyn, he thought, his vision going hazy. He tasted metallic blood on his tongue and his head lolled forward.
He didn’t know for certain if Madame Allegria continued to whip him, but at some point, he fell unconscious. Blissful blackness, which was most welcome.
When he woke, he was still chained. He heard hurried footsteps on the stairs.
Then Valerie whispered, “Oh my God.”
“Evelyn,” he rasped. His throat felt so dry it was painful to speak.
“Khiva, what did she do to you?” Valerie cried softly. Immediately, the chains dropped in height from the ceiling and his arms fell to the ground, like heavy weights.
He groaned, painful needle-like pricks stinging him from blood rushing under his skin. His back was numb. He couldn’t feel anything.
“Where is she?” he asked.
“I don’t know. She left about five minutes ago,” Valerie whispered. Madame Allegria must’ve decimated his back because Valerie looked pale and sick when she came to undo his wrists from the clasps.
He caught her wrist. Though his head still felt hazy from blood loss, he murmured, “I need to see Evelyn. I need to see her.”
“Khiva,” Valerie said, already shaking her head. “We need to laser your cuts before—”
“Veki. Take me to her.”
“Khiva—”
“Please,” he whispered. “Please. I need her.” Then he amended that with, “We need one another.”
“How will she react when she sees you like this?” Valerie asked, softly, reminding him that he’d never wanted Evelyn to see him whipped and abused.
It didn’t matter anymore.
“She will see me like this,” Khiva said, closing his eyes when dizziness made the room spin, “and she will not look at me differently. I will give my pride to her as an offering because I know she will not abuse it. It is likely she will love me even more for it. I have so much to tell her, to ask her.”
Valerie blew out a long breath, her eyebrows coming together as he spoke nonsense, words that didn’t make sense to her. But to Evelyn…Evelyn would understand.
“Please, Val,” he whispered, the room fading a bit.
“Okay,” she finally said and relief made him sag. “But you have to stay awake, Khiva. Promise me you’ll stay awake.”
“I will.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Eve was laying in bed, staring at the light from Everton’s moon projections move across her walls. Another sleepless night.
She should just get out of bed and do something productive, like packing up another trunk. She was leaving almost everything behind, though she hadn’t decided what to do about her townhome. She was going to sign it over to Genni, if for no other reason because she had no one to leave it to. But also because up until the last few years, she’d been a good friend. She’d been her only friend for many, many years.
Eve had said goodbye to Genni yesterday afternoon. And while nostalgia for the friendship they’d once had had made that conversation difficult, Eve had been hurt that Genni seemed more interested in what she would be doing with her townhome. It was exactly the reason why Eve couldn’t bring herself to give it to her.
She had outgrown the townhome, just as she’d outgrown her friendship. Just as Khiva wanted for her, she wanted something better for herself. Everton couldn’t give that to her and neither could her friendship with Genni.
After their final goodbye, Eve felt a strange relief, a weight lifted off her shoulders. It was then that she’d known she’d done the right thing.
Eve wiped away another tear that leaked from the corner of her eye. She’d been an emotional wreck all week. Mostly because of Khiva, but also because she was saying goodbye to her old life, to the life she’d shared with her father. It felt, in a way, like she was mourning him all over again, but she liked to think that he would be proud of her decision to leave. He’d always spoken highly of Gorkan, the friend Eve had contacted. She knew she could trust him and trust his judgment, and at least she would know one friendly face on Dumera, as she found her footing and started a new life.
A large part of her just wished she was starting that life with Khiva.
