“Go on,” I say, hating the waver in my voice.
Xeni hesitates, but eventually he continues. “I came up with a plan to get them out of their cells, return to my barracks, and pretend it never happened. At least they’d be free, even if I couldn’t be.”
Another punch of grief hits me square in the chest, and I shove away from the table and turn my back to him to keep him from seeing how much I’m affected.
“And?” I ask when he doesn’t speak.
“Things… didn’t go as planned.”
A bitter scoff pushes from my nose. “Funny how that happens.”
“Bash,” he whispers.
I shake my head. “Finish your story.”
Another long beat of silence stretches between us, but I don’t give in, and eventually, he talks.
“I got them out, but they refused to leave the other prisoners behind. We opened their cages, but the alarms triggered and everything turned into chaos. We got most of the mates loose and outside, but the building came down. Anyone left inside was killed.”
“That doesn’t explain how you escaped,” I say.
“They brought me with them.”
“Even after you betrayed them?” I demand as I glance over my shoulder at him.
His fingers trace the strap of his eyepatch with a faraway look on his face. “Yeah. Even then. They’re good people, but my actions had a cost.”
“They usually do,” I mutter, scorn bleeding through my words.
Xeni is quiet again as he takes a deep breath, and he’s pleading as he looks up at me. “Will you please sit back down, Bash? Talk to me. Give me a few minutes alone.”
The request lands like a spark on dry tinder. I snarl and spin to face him, slamming my hands onto the table hard enough to rattle it.
“Giveyou a few minutes alone? I already gave you too much, and you threw it away. Don’t youdareask me for more.”
“But—”
“Why are you here?” I demand, cutting off his protest. “You’ve told me why you werethere, but not why you’re in Atlanta.”
His gaze darts to Cato again, and my temper flares hotter.
“He’s not leaving, Xenesis, so answer my question. You walked away clean. No real consequences—likealways. So why come back now? What are you doing here, and why were soldiers chasing you?”
“I was trying to get information,” he says. “I took the job so I had something to trade.”
“Trade for what?”
“You,” he whispers. “I was looking for you.”
The room goes dead silent as his confession hangs there, and I straighten, fury and something worse churning together.
“You hadyears,” I say, my voice trembling with the anger that’s been poisoning me since that day. “Years to look for me. Years to give me some sort of explanation for what happened, to offer even ascrapof truth.”
Xeni’s single eye glistens with tears, and I’m hit with a fresh surge of rage.
“Stop that,” I snap. “You don’t get tocry, Xeni! Do you have any fucking idea what you did to me? Any at all?”
“Yes,” he whispers, the admission quiet but utterly destructive.
