No wonder he craves power.Enough to indulge in stimulant use. He hadn’t been able to protect Parvine, and no one had protected him. Had it been her in his place, wouldn’t she have gone mad too? She dared flip to the last few pages of the book and took a glimpse.
Noceo’s haunted features came to life in front of her. He sat beside Kadra in the same stretch of shore where Parvine’s body had been, staringat the waves lapping the shoreline. Foam flew into the air and settled again and again.
“I can’t ever face her family,” he said after a long silence. “I said that I would never hurt her. And I threw her body in the Chaboras.”
“I spoke to them. Got there before Clevsin could plant a story.” The ice in Kadra’s eyes was so deep, she wondered how it had ever thawed for him to have become the man he did. “Lied that she committed suicide after you rejected her.”
The emptiness bled from Noceo’s face. He swiveled to face Kadra with sudden fury. “She wouldnever!” he snarled, seizing his brother’s tunic. “You couldn’t come up with a better fucking story?”
“Exactly.” Kadra didn’t move. “She would never. No one will believe it. Any story Clevsin spins afterward will not take. Her memory is safe.”
Withdrawing, Sarai shoved the book back in the shelf with shaking hands. This was so much worse than she’d imagined. And there was one more. The incident that had changed everything and set these men down different paths.
She gripped the volume titledEscapeand wiped her eyes.Alright. She inhaled sharply and dove in. This time, when her mind detached herself from Noceo’s perspective, she moved back in.
Finaze Poxtan was here.
Noceo blankly stared at the girl screaming for answers in the snow, prostate at his feet. The road down the Drust Mountains wound down behind her. Why did it have to be tonight? Drenevan was due any moment. They had to leave.
“Please just tell me why,” Finaze pleaded. “You came around for months to flirt with her. You seemed tolikeher, so why don’t you care?”
Noceo glanced around. What if Drenevan had failed at subduing Clevsin? He had snuck out to unlock the manor’s gates once the two had started fighting. But if Drenevan lost, then Clevsin would know that they had been working together. And this fucking girl keptscreaming.
“Why did you abandon Parvine?” Finaze wailed.
FUCK. She had never liked him. Never wanted him around Parvine. Beneath the anguish in her eyes was hatred. His adrenaline surged to the beat of his pulse. She was right. Gods, she was right. But he couldn’t have her ruin everything. She had chosen to come here despite knowing the consequences. This was her fault. Didn’t she understand how hard he had fought for Parvine?EverythingClevsin had done to him while he tried to protect her that last night?
Sweat slicked his palms. “You’re right,” he finally said quietly, pitching his voice low and wrapping it around her. Her brow smoothed, blankness entering her face. “But I can’t say much out here. Come inside and I’ll explain.”
A hint of fear surfaced on her face. She was fighting it.
“Don’t worry.” He bent to her, forcing a smile that felt like a rictus grin. “I’ll keep you safe. As your friend, I owe you an explanation.”
Finaze nodded, eyes glazed.
Moonlight glinted off the metal gates, transforming them to spears as he led her through. They shut behind her. The flashes of lightning within the manor told him that Drenevan and Clevsin were still battling. Finaze’s limbs jerked in front of him.
“Keep going and don’t talk.” His hands shook. He had to do this. He had no choice. He couldn’t stay here anymore.
Finaze’s feet dug into the snow carpeting the gardens as she fought his compulsion. Her neck turned back to face him in a slow, terrifying fashion. “What… are—” She choked on the words.
“Look ahead.” He embedded a boulder’s worth of power in the words, and her neck snapped back around. “Keep walking.”
He drew her to the back of the house. His right hand dropped to the dagger Clevsin made them all carry. Silver with Clan Kader’s crimson insignia engraved over the hilt. He had never used it. That had always been Drenevan’s task. He had kept his hands clean and used his voice.
Finaze stopped again. How was she so strong? Why didn’t he have power over anyone?
“You… killed… her.” Her eyes spat hatred at him.
“I did,” he whispered. “I should have known better and stayed away, but I thought he would never know. He got her because of me.”
Her features altered into startled understanding, then hatred. “Then… you… die too!” Her hand whipped up, a knife in her grip. She sliced into his arm before he could blink.
He reared back, unsheathing his blade with age-old instinct. His vision went white.
She was a few years older, but he was stronger. His first strike was ugly. He had never killed with his hands before. Drenevan had always done it for him. The second was easier, the flesh more malleable now. Wet. And then, he couldn’t stop. It poured out under the silent moons, blood upon snow. Silver and red. He stabbed her until she was a mass of flesh, then dropped the blade and rose.
Drenevan stood at the end of the path. Silent.
