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I bite down, letting anger and guilt smother my soul. “I told him I didn’t forgive him.”
The memory of our last moments before the battle ring loudly in my head. The way he reached for my hands. The way Kane finally told me how he felt about our first kiss.
And I turned him away.
“He tried to ask for my forgiveness, and I told him I couldn’t. I needed more time.” My hands begin to shake, to summon heat, to lock up in frustration. “But there is no more time.”
I look back at Chekiss and watch the tears fall silently down his soft cheeks.
“We didn’t have enough time,” I whisper, choking on the sobs that are clawing up my throat, fighting to escape the walls I’m trying desperately to put up.
Chekiss wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his warm embrace as his entire upper body trembles from a silent cry. He’s devastated for me.
“I’ll never forgive myself!” I weep into his warm chest, grabbing onto him like a child to her father after she falls and scrapes her knee. And I can’t let go. Because I’ll fall away, drift out to sea without a beacon to find my way home.
11. Truth Be Known
I curl up in a tight ball next to my fireplace.
I can’t sleep in our bed. Not without him. Not without the strong arms that circle my waist. Not without his voice in my ear. Not without the constant feeling of security.
DaiSzek is curled around me, his thick coat of fur keeping me from shivering. And my attention is lost in the flames, so I don’t notice when the door opens until DaiSzek lets out a furious snarl.
“I come in peace.” Aurick keeps his distance. But I’m consumed by my pain, wielding it into a torch that can burn him to ash.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t let him rip your lungs out,” I say through my teeth.
“I brought you both food.”
“Not good enough.”
DaiSzek growls louder as Aurick sets a tray down on a table.
“I’ll tell you the truth. The other reason I lured you into my home.” His tone is grim, laced with a forbidden knowledge that he knows he shouldn’t voice out loud.
I don’t say anything. But my hand finds DaiSzek’s head, and I run my fingers through his fur, letting him know I’m okay. He can stand down.
The bed shifts and creaks under Aurick’s weight. He’s silent for a few seconds.
“You saw something… when you touched Warrose, didn’t you?” he asks.
My patience is paper thin. “So?”
“Skylenna… there’s a reason we chose”—he clears his throat—“Dessin for this experiment. It wasn’t random. And there’s a reason he didn’t tell you what made him a prime candidate.”
I wait, grinding my teeth in anticipation.
He exhales. “Dessin was a twin.”
My head pops up.What did he just say?
“The experiment only works on twins. His brother died a stillborn. It’s the same reason—my father chose you and Scarlett.”
I’m off the carpet now, sitting upright to gawk at him with sheer horror.
The sound of babies crying fills my ears. And I can tell by the look on his face that I’m the only one that hears it.
“You were a part of the same experiment he is—was. Only… my father couldn’t break you the way he broke Kane. It didn’t matter what he had your father do to you. Nothing worked.” He looks down at his hands with remorse drooping his eyes.
