The mother covered her mouth at this, not making a sound, though her desperation spoke loudly.
If this worked, he'd leave a son without his mother, and this one at such an early age. Looking into her eyes again, that hollow ache gaped inside him.
Zayne didn't need to say anything else to these soldiers. They'd get their asses handed to them soon enough. On his way out, he met the mother's eyes, unable to tell her she was a good mom, and this wasn't her fault.
Outside, soldiers instructed the civilians to leave the area.
Mellie ran to him and gave him back his jacket. “Thank you for giving me something to kneel on. You know how much I love this dress. It was so romantic of you.”
Romantic? Nothing about this situation was romantic. He made himself nod, not able to pretend to care about anything except that another brave woman would die.
Then, even though Mellie just watched a boy get smashed into the concrete, she slid her hands over his forearms, feeling along his seals. “You were incredible. You took control of the chaos.”
Disgust climbed up his throat at that hunger in her eyes. That lust for his power. She rose to her toes and kissed him hungrily, encouraging his arms to loop around her waist.
“I never get to see you work,” she said.
“You're not afraid?” he asked in a flat voice, forcing his hands to smooth against her back. Forcing himself to play along.
“Not with you protecting me.” Another sultry kiss before the kid's blood dried. “I need to watch you more often. I like it when you order everyone around.”
“Yeah?” Nausea filled him to whisper it against her lips.
“When can you go home?” she asked, the want in her eyes clear.
Zayne's skin crawled. He could go home right now, but he wasn't going to fuck her while they put a bullet in that poor woman's head. “This might keep me busy.”
She pouted but nodded. “I understand, Mr. Important.”
Mom's knowing voice flowed through his mind while he held Mellie in his arms.
“Don't marry Mellie.”
Wasn't this why he warned Kira about her loyalty? It shouldn't have surprised him to see her reaction to cruelty, but it did. Kira was right. Zayne needed to adjust his views of civilians and women because, for too long, he glossed over Mellie's complicity. And why? Because she covered her crimes with a cute smile? The empire relied upon people like Mellie as their facade of happiness.
Zayne wanted to shove her away from him and never touch her again. Never see her again. How did he end up here? What was wrong with him? Was Mellie another dose of pure PXI, another tank, another poison to cleanse him of his sins?
After Nadia cheated on him, he didn't want to risk his war against the Phaedra with something as painful as love. So, he chose a woman who deserved a terrible man like himself. He chose a woman who slept soundly while he lay awake beside her and never cared to uncover what nightmares he ran from.
“I'm glad you spared the boy,” Mellie said. “His mother almost got him killed. She doesn't deserve him.”
Thick, rancid blood clung to his nostrils.
His mother's blood.
His mother's blood pouring down Kira's face.
“They needed to die,” Zayne said numbly. Didn't he spare Mellie from this? He never made her own what she supported. This time, he wanted her to hear it said plainly. Wanted to see her agree with murder.
The smile that met him looked so innocent it made him feel sick. “Such a tragedy.”
When Zayne left her, he fled to the shooting range and rehearsed the plan to break Kira out from start to finish for hours. He stayed until darkness fell and the center closed for the night.
And when he returned home, he expected the solace of an empty bed, only to find Mellie lying in wait, wearing lingerie he'd never seen before. Silk and lace and not very much of it.
“I've been waiting for you,” she said.
She looked perfect. That was the problem. She always looked so perfect and sweet. Zayne couldn't touch her. Couldn't even look at her. Hours ago, she supported killing a woman and didn't blink at a child's blood spilled across the ground. No, instead, she guzzled Zayne's authority, drunk on the Riven name.
