Adelle returned to the church, didn't she?
The timing wasn't a coincidence, not when Adelle was a Follower, and the Phaedra was furious.
Though Kira's body stopped working, refusing to even breathe, her mind pushed on, insistent on answers. What she needed more than her next breath was to know what happened to her kind, loving Adelle Riven. So her mind raced ahead of her while her body remained slumped against the wall, tears pouring from her eyes.
The Phaedra planned this.
What did he gain?
Did he want to prove that his High General and his successors would never abandon him? Did he watch with sick perversion as the Rivens scattered their mother's ashes to the wind and then bowed down to him?
As much as that all surely satisfied the Phaedra, there was one true answer.
The Phaedra would never let a bitch get away with insulting him. That was what he called her when he ordered Zayne to drag her to the dead Followers. He spoke it with such venom.
A man defying the Phaedra deserved death. But a woman, one who belonged to his second in command? Well, she deserved to have her blood thrown in the face of the other bitch who denied him.
Rage flushed through her veins.
None of this was an accident.
The Phaedra punished the women who defied him and forced their men to their knees to watch.
He waited for Adelle to enter the church to strike and commanded Zayne to throw Kira down in her blood.
Or worse, the Phaedra forced Adelle into that basement against her will to kill her.
Kira's heart knew the truth.
And now came the weeping, deep and bitter weeping that ravaged her insides with pain and emptiness. She felt Adelle with her, their time together embracing her.
The smell and heaviness of blood entombed her once more—the heartbreak of Zayne scrubbing the gore from her skin—the priceless gift of Adelle's love after years without her own mother.
Pumpkin nudged Kira's foot with her nose, and she pulled her close, understanding now. Zayne brought her to Kira because they'd lost Adelle. “You miss her too. He knew we needed each other.”
The pain crashed over her so many times she drifted from her body again. For minutes or hours or days, she didn't know. She drifted until the sound of her door opening dragged Kira to the surface of her mind.
Zayne's boots filled her vision, and she realized she was lying in a heap on the ground. Kira rushed to her feet.
His dead, blank look dissolved into silent suffering when his eyes lowered to the newspaper on the ground.
“Zayne.” Gravity ripped at her heart the way it had hanging from the buildings three years ago, fighting to tear through her body and smash it upon the floor. Blood and death and the love of one of the greatest women in the empire bound them together. “You're not okay.”
Kira couldn't survive this. She couldn't survive what had already happened. Losing Adelle, too? Impossible. But Zayne never left her, not truly. And as much as this hurt Kira, it hurt him even more. Adelle was the only light in his life from the day he was born. A lone star in Kallum’s dark sky. So even though she feltbroken beyond repair, knew shock quieted the suffering waiting within her, Kira would be here for Zayne.
He needed her.
He blinked a few times, eyes shifting to the cat. “Pumpkin looks happy again.”
Covering her mouth to force the sobs back inside, she walked closer, keeping her eyes on him even though he didn't look at her. For three years, he ran from her, and at every chance, he told her to stay away. But her heart pounded with the certainty he was falling, and there was no one there to catch him.
She needed to hold him, hold his broken heart. But she wouldn't hurt him by destroying the space he took solace in, not without his permission. So, she stopped an arm's length away.
Several seconds passed, and slowly his eyes raised to hers. Kira didn't know how to hide her every emotion like he did, and she didn't waste her strength trying to with grief this horrific. Instead, she cried for both of them and tested him by taking a single step into his space.
Zayne didn't back away, so Kira dared another step, giving him every chance to flee. He'd do this for her—let her in—but she didn't want that. She wanted it to be his choice.
His eyes fell to the narrowing space between them, lingering there. “Outside?”
