“This isn’t finished,” he rasps, then bolts from the room.
The quiet is crushing.
A thud breaks the silence as Xeni collapses to his knees, trembling as he fights to stay upright. I run over, hitting the concrete with a jolt that barely registers through the haze of adrenaline and fear. I wedge myself under his arm, and he leans on me as he wavers.
Every line of his body carries the toll of what he’s just done.
Bloodshot and too heavy, his eye lifts to mine. Dark rings have formed above his cheekbones that are stark against his pale skin, and his veins stand prominent in sharp relief, pulsingvisibly beneath the surface. Sweat and blood mix to streak his face and neck in gruesome rivulets.
He opens his mouth as if trying to speak, but only ragged gasps for breath escape.
“Shhh,” I soothe as I push away the hair stuck to his skin with fingers that are numb from shock. “It’s alright. It’s all going to be alright, but we have to go. We have to leave, okay?”
The enormity of the situation presses heavy in this room, the air thick with the metallic tang of blood and the lingering echo of power that still crackles faintly around us. We’ve left a trail of bodies in our push to reach him, and now the most dangerous High Commander is wounded by his own son’s hands.
A wound that will demand vengeance on a scale we can scarcely comprehend.
He’s seen all of us. Knows our names and faces in intimate detail. We’re soon to be the most hunted people in the city, if not the world.
“I promised,” Xeni whispers.
It’s so quiet I barely catch the words, his voice faint and dragged from the last of his strength.
“To protect you,” he continues in a slow murmur. “I promised.”
He risked everything to keep that vow, and my heart breaks all over again.
He clutches at my shirt, growing more desperate. “I… I used my powers on you… I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize for protecting me,” I say, fighting to keep my composure for his sake. “You were amazing, okay? You were perfect.”
I attempt to scrub away the blood on his face with the sleeve of my shirt, but it only smears across his skin in fresh streaks as new drops trickle from his nose.
His fingers are cold and slick with sweat as he takes my hand, and he's on the edge of fading consciousness.
“Did you mean it?” he murmurs.
“Mean what?”
He stumbles as I lift him to his feet, heavy as he falls against me and leans into my support. His throat dips in a labored swallow.
“That you love me?”
“Of course I meant it, princess. I never stopped.” The confession carries the truth I’ve hidden from for years, and a tear slides down his cheek as he closes his eye.
He wavers on his feet, body swaying, and I glance to where Ego is collecting her blade from the ground with a grimace. Cato and Sakane flank her, faces etched with the same urgency.
My arms bind tighter around his waist as I nod at the door. “He’s losing consciousness, and we have to go. The entire fucking army will be after us.”
The others fall in line as the weight of what we’ve done settles over us like a shroud.
It’s one thing to leave a trail of bodies behind in an obvious attack on the military’s stronghold, but to wound, and nearly kill, one of their supreme leaders?
“Let’s go.”
Bash
Xeni’sweightslumpsagainstme as I guide him into the hallway, getting heavier with every passing second. His feet drag across the floor, and it takes less than a dozen steps before I can’t watch anymore. I scoop him into my arms without a word, cradling him close.
