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Spinning around with a weight dropping into my belly, I see him on the floor. The man who harassed me, who tried to kill me, who made my life hell for so long. Masten.
“What did she do to him?” I ask.
Niles drops down after the last manacle is lifted. “Honestly, I don’t know. He’s been seizing like that since she touched him.”
Every fiber in me is begging to ask her what happened. But I know that will have to wait until later on. Right now, we need to get out of here before anyone discovers what she’s done.
Niles works on freeing Warrose while I unscrew all of Dessin’s restraints. After unclamping his forearm, I glance up at his eyes that I didn’t realize are wide open. I do a double take, scanning his flexed jaw, lowered lids, and bulging veins in his neck. It’s as if he is choking on a fit of resentment, cold with brimming hostility.
What happened?
Working on his last bar, I shout over my shoulder, “Let’s go, Skylenna!”
Not a sound escapes her. She just stands there, hovering over Kaspias.
“Leave her,” Dessin orders, bitterness twisting through his words.
What? Tugging his last leg free, I glower up at his towering height. It takes me a solid moment to consider if this is actually Dessin. Why is there so much hate etched across his face?
“Dessin,” I say carefully.
“I said, leave her. Let’s go. Now!”
I flinch away from his thundering voice. What the hell is going on?
“It’s okay. Go.” Skylenna’s voice is barely an octave above a whisper. A sound coming from far away, withdrawn and distracted.
“But…” Niles huffs, stepping toward her.
“Go,” she repeats.
Warrose puts a hand on my back and taps Niles on the shoulder, guiding us toward the exit. I shuffle past Dessin, but before exiting, I glance back at Skylenna.
And time, though fickle and cruel, takes pity on them. For no more than a few seconds.
Skylenna looks back at Dessin, meeting his murky glare with a yearning that makes my own heart break. Her eyes are so red, they almost look like they’re filled with blood surrounding her two emerald irises. Three tears slip down her gaunt cheeks, falling straight to the brimstone floor.
And Dessin is the one to finally turn away, jerking his head forward for me to follow him out.
~
Dessin
The image of her demonic face won’t leave me.
Not as I replace Ruth’s bandages.
Not as I find medicine for her to take.
Not as Niles grills me with questions.
She’s all I can think about in the worst way imaginable. Skylenna has been a demon sent straight from hell to ruin me and all I’ve lived for since I was a child. How could she stand there and pretend like she loved me? How could she act so innocent? So kind and gentle? I know her games and awful tricks. I’ve lived them for far too long. We all have. Every alter knows what she is capable of.
“I know it’s hard for you, Dess. But you have to tell us what’s going on in your head,” Warrose says in a low but demanding tone.
Ruth tries to sit up to hear what I have to say.
“What’s there to talk about? The demon is up to her old tricks again. That’s the end of it.”
