And every second she'd spent fearing what might one day come was realized over and over, until their blood drenched her body and soul and every strand of her hair.
The cruelty of Zayne being the one to do it sliced away at the tender, vulnerable parts of her, until she lost her hold on herself. Until she was drowning in a tank of blood, unable to see, speak, feel, hear.
Death.
Blood.
Agony.
But not regret.
Kira's words carried power, and she refused to ask her mom to kill anyone.
Only a single ember of life burned within her, and it was consumed entirely in destroying the Phaedra.
It didn't matter if he broke her, or if he used Zayne to do it. Kira would never be his.
Her rebellion would never be his.
Even when she no longer felt anything.
Kira didn't remember it ending. Didn't know it had. She no longer felt herself, but only the blood soaking her body. She was aware only of the Phaedra looking down on her, carrying centuries of power.
“You have been reborn.” His narrowed brows etched a shadow over his face. “Go and sin no more.”
CHAPTER 47
Zayne
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
Zayne stared at the empty doorway where the soldiers hauled Kira away back to the prison. He wished he'd been the one to die in this room. How could he drag Kira through the blood?
What kind of monster did that to anyone, especially someone like her?
It didn't matter that Zayne did the only thing he could to save her. That attacking the soldiers and defying the Phaedra would have killed her. He didn't care about reason, only that he'd covered her in the blood of the innocent, and he deserved to die a slow, agonizing death.
The night Kira asked him to kiss her, he said he wouldn't touch her with bloody hands, and now look at them. Zayne hurt her far worse than he feared that night.
What happened here would change her forever.
What if it crushed the fiery life in her eyes? Destroyed her resilient hope? What if Kira also died in this room, even though that she still breathed and walked the earth?
“It's unpleasant work,” the Phaedra said. “I'm proud of you for standing strong.”
He didn't feel human anymore when he turned around and looked at the emperor. “I'm at your service, my Phaedra.” Every sticky drop of blood on his skin burned.
“Good boy.” The Phaedra gripped his face hard enough to draw fresh blood from his injured lip. “I crave your compliance like a drug. Every time I catch your wild spirit, it’s better than the last. But I can't be patient with you much longer. If you test me, I'll make you kill her. Then you'll live with that forever.”
“Yes, Phaedra.”
“The prisoner needs time to purify herself. You won't see her for three days.”
Too much could happen in three days.
