My heart shatters as I recognize the shape of my name on his lips.
It’s that day all over again.
Those same desperate eyes burning with helpless fury, and the same screams tearing from his throat. He reaches for me, ready to charge headlong into an army if it means getting to me.
He’ll share this fate, gladly, when I only ever wanted to shield him from it.
“Xeni!” he shouts, the sound cutting through the noise like a knife.
I struggle to keep my gaze locked on him as I’m shoved toward the car, the world blurring around the edges from my exhaustion.
“No,Xen! I’m coming!” he roars, but the crowd swallows it, muffling his pleas as the guards haul me closer to the open door.
I’m leaving him again, I realize, after I swore I wouldn’t.
All those tentative threads of possibility, the quiet moments of almost-believing we could heal, the fragile hope we’d only just begun to rebuild… they’re crushed.
Destroyed.
The pain of it steals my breath amidst the struggle, with hands grabbing and voices barking orders, and I only have one thing left.
One truth I can give him before they take me.
“I love you,” I whisper, hoping against all odds that he can read the words on my lips.
He screams my name one last time as I’m shoved into the backseat of the sedan, and the door slams with a finality that echoes like a gunshot in my soul. The silence that follows is deafening, and my head falls against the back of the seat.
Two guards say nothing as they climb into the front, and my consciousness wanes as the car pulls forward. I have a fleeting thought that I hope Leuce made it out of this unscathed.
Twists and turns lead us back onto the main road. I should pay attention, but exhaustion and defeat are crushing. Instead of planning my escape, I listen to the hum of the tires.
Traffic gets louder as we drive, and the taller buildings grow closer. The familiar shape of the skyline feels alien as my sluggish heart thuds in my chest.
Darkness encompasses the vehicle as we pull into an underground parking area. The door is flung open, and I’m yanked to my feet fast enough to make my head spin.
In a pitiful act of rebellion, I jam my heel into the guard’s shin. An exhausted smile tugs at my lips at his outraged howl, but my amusement fades as I’m yanked into an elevator and the doors close behind us.
“So, do you come here often?” I ask.
The guard holding my left side gives me a hard jostle while the other snorts. “Shut your mouth,” he growls.
I click my tongue as the elevator keeps climbing. “Is this the part where you frisk me? Because if you’re looking for weapons, I’m only carrying one. If you can’t figure out where it is, I’ll give you a hint.”
“Shut… up!” he snarls, and pain lances through my shoulder as he shakes me again.
“You aren’t very good at this game, are you?” I ask with a popped brow. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell you. It’s—”
“I saidshutup!” he bellows.
“—between my legs.”
The front of my body is slammed against the wall. My vision blurs from the impact as I gasp for a breath.
“Is this your idea of foreplay? Come on, choke me properly if you’re gonna play dominant,” I wheeze as the elevator dings. “I’ll even call you sir while I come.”
The doors slide open, and the air becomes thick. Bodies move in my peripherals, but my missing eye keeps me from being able to see much besides shadows.
“Do we have a problem here?”
