“I'm trusting you with this.” Zayne squeezed a bag of treats in his hand before passing it to her. Inside, he left the last thing he ever wanted to give Kira, but he chose to trust her. To trust she'd never use it. “Please trust me too. One more time. This plan won't fail.”
Brows pinched, Kira remained turned away from the camera while she organized the supplies, eyes straying to the treats.
Zayne ran out of excuses to kneel down at the box now that he had placed the last item on the ground. “I need you to never use it.”
Understanding dawned in her eyes, loosening the tightness in her expression.
When Kira first told Zayne to take her life, she didn't want to risk any Followers dying for her. Now so many were slaughtered, and she spent three days covered in their blood. He forced her to stay alive, only for all her fears to come true. So even though Zayne wanted to beg her to stay alive and never give her the pill hidden inside those bags of treats, he did it anyway. It terrified him, and his thoughts raced with images of finding her cold and dead like Mom. But Zayne chose to trust Kira.
She deserved that trust. She wouldn't give up her life easily. And maybe it was wrong to give her the choice, but it felt wrong to leave her trapped in this prison with no way to protect herself against the worst torture the Phaedra could dream up.
If Kira used that pill, Zayne didn't know how to go on. Now that they ran out of opportunities to whisper to one another, he just looked up and met her eyes.
Stay alive.
His heart screamed it while he held her stare.
Kira picked the cat up again and nestled her close. “Thank you for all this. I'll take good care of her.” Serious eyes on his. “Don't worry.”
Okay.
His chest throbbed. Okay, he'd silence those fears, just like he silenced so much elseinside himself.
Leaving her with the cat was the only comfort this week offered, but that horrible pill refused to leave his mind entirely as he walked out of her prison cell.
At least with Kira no longer alone, Zayne might sleep tonight. And Mellie would avoid him for days, maybe a week, leaving his bed empty when he could never sleep beside her again. She hated hurting their image in public, especially in front of the Phaedra. She'd nurse her wounds in private, pretending she was with Zayne when she wasn't. She'd do the job for him this week.
Zayne was done with Mellie. He should never have been with her, but their relationship was over. Not being able to tell her right now felt unfair and wrong, but he refused to jeopardize Kira's safety by setting off any alarm bells.
The last thing he did before leaving his tree was to write letters to everyone he was leaving behind. After his betrayal, they'd search every place he had access to. Someone would find the tree. So, he left a letter for Mellie, apologizing for hurting her, but also saying he could never make a life with someone who built hers on the suffering of others.
Zayne wanted nothing to do with Mellie anymore.
CHAPTER 55
Zayne
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
Zayne woke to another emergency alert, jolting his body into combat. This time, a massacre didn't await him, though. No blood that he'd see or smell. Just his father and brother in the office at his parents' house, where they still pretended Mom happily spent her days.
The blood was too far away to smell this time. The office too sanitized for it to feel real. War worked this way. Not decided with bullets and soldiers in the field, but discussed over coffee in warm, clean offices.
The Phaedra invaded Caspador while his family was on leave, mourning their dead mother.
His heartlessness never ceased to disgust Zayne.
Ever since the PXI incident, the Phaedra acted aggressively and impulsively.
His father likely created these war plans in Caspador as a contingency, not expecting the Phaedra to move forward during the few days in the High General's career that he wasn't around.
His temples throbbed with a headache. The situation in Caspador unfolded rapidly. Reinard sent an encrypted message to him saying Ashantae received a letter and intel from Miya that they delivered to Major Tyndale. She planned to return to the palace.
The United knew she was alive and searched for her, monitoring Governor Krowe's estate to pick her up. But before she arrived, the captain captured Krowe and his family and executed them all. There hadn't been enough military support in Archai to stop him with how rapidly the Phaedra diverted troops from Antor to Caspador.
