“Yes, and no. I’m not here to scold you. I said something kind of bitchy, too. To hurt you, actually,” I said.
Kaden’s brows furrowed as if he were surprised that I would admit to purposely causing him pain. Kaden grunted and kicked his long legs out, folding one ankle over the other. “What is this?” he asked, the muscles under his long-sleeved shirt bunching.
“Samkiel thinks we have a connection,” I said.
Kaden all but rolled his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest. “Great, your boy toy is jealous. As if I couldn’t tell. He can just—”
“And he’s right,” I cut in.
The air was sucked from the room, and I was reminded once again that he, too, was a son of Unir. Shock suffused his face, and the emotions that followed were chaotic and nearly palpable. I wasn’t sure if I had ever managed to elicit such a response from him. I watched in surprise as his throat bobbed and took a step closer, my hands held loosely at my sides.
“You get under my skin,” I said. “You always have, and you know it. I lashed out that day, and you retaliated. You always knew how to hurt me, exactly where to hit and how to make me feel less than. You did hurt me that day, then and for many long years before. I have wounds left by you. Trust issues that go soul deep and will take years to heal.”
Kaden flinched as if my words of truth were worse than a slap. He stood so abruptly that the chair almost fell. “I don’t have time for this,” he snarled.
He went to storm by, but I caught his arm, stopping him. “But that’s not all.”
He looked down at my hand before meeting my eyes.
“You came into my life when I desperately needed someone to save me, and I latched on to you and what you offered. I was naïve then, but I am no longer that girl. When I met Samkiel, I hurt him in the same ways you taught me how to hurt others. He doesn’t deserve the fractured, bruised parts of me. I will not be you. I will not love him cruelly.”
I expected him to react violently and brutally. It was what I was used to from the man who’d once held so much power over me, but he only looked at me as if he didn’t really recognize me, and maybe he didn’t. I had grown in ways neither of us could have ever predicted, and I didn’t think he could even begin to recognize or relate to this me.
“Everything has changed, Kaden. We are bound by Death, and what happens to us affects those we love. We have to stop hurting each other.”
Kaden said nothing.
“I don’t know what happened with Nismera, and I know you won’t tell me, but you fought back. You saved your brother, and now, even with the bond, you are trying to help.”
“I have no choice,” Kaden said, his eyes burning into mine.
“That’s not true.”
He scoffed, about to make some remark I was sure would annoy me. “I saw it,” I said before he could ruin everything.
He frowned. “Saw what?”
“What I always thought you had in you. The potential.”
“Dianna,” he said, his eyes softening.
“It’s there, buried so deep and sheltered by whatever she did to you and Isaiah. You have it, and I think if she hadn’t twisted you, broken you so cruelly, you would have been a good man.” I shrugged, a half smirk twisting my lips. “Well, maybe not good, but semi decent?”
Kaden looked at me, and I realized perhaps our broken pieces were the same. Done by different people, yet still jagged and sharp enough to hurt everyone we try to get close to. I released his arm and gave him a small smile before turning to leave. Behind me, Kaden finally took a breath. “Dianna,” he called out. It was just my name, but it was fraught with unspoken emotion. I paused with my hand on the open door, turning to face him again.
“If it means anything … I’m sorry.” He paused, his jaw working as if tasting and discarding his words. “For everything.”
My soul was gone. I had willingly sacrificed it to save the love of my life, but I wondered, if I still had it, would I feel pity for the once formidable and cruel Kaden? After everything he did and took from me, I doubted it.
“It doesn’t,” I said simply.
Kaden’s eyes lost a fraction of their warmth, and I knew the moment was over. His gaze flicked up, focusing on something over my head. I didn’t need to turn to know who stood at my back. He was always there, my faithful sentinel.
Samkiel’s hand slid over my waist, placing a kiss on the top of my head as he spoke. “Are you ready to go?”
I nodded, turning into his embrace and grabbing his hand. We barely made it through the doorway when Kaden called out to us.
“Careful where you venture, Brother,” Kaden said to Samkiel. “Searching for the dead sometimes leads you closer to the afterlife than you want to get.”
