Lurching to her feet, Kalie charged through the smoke. The legionnaires’ mangled bodies laid on the broken tiles, half-submerged by fallen chunks of the ceiling. She leapt over the carnage and rounded the corner.
Blood flowed from Iliana’s calf as she hobbled down the hallway, leaving a trail of scarlet streaks on the tiles behind her.
“Iliana!” Kalie bellowed.
Iliana stumbled, and Kalie squeezed the trigger.
As the pulser recoiled, a red beam of light burst from the barrel. The bolt struck a vase, and shattered glass rained down on Iliana.
Kalie lunged, landing on top of her as she hit the ground. Iliana thrashed; Kalie struck her face with her pulser. The sickening crack and Iliana’s scream fueled the rage rushing through her veins. Pinning her down, Kalie rammed the barrel into her skull. Her finger twitched on the trigger. She could end this right now.
She sucked in a deep breath, trying to still her quaking muscles.
“Don’t shoot,” Iliana whimpered.
Kalie scoffed. What made her think she had any right to plead for her life after everything she’d done? If it wasn’t for her, Zane wouldn’t be dead. Their people wouldn’t have been slaughtered. Pure, undiluted rage crashed through Kalie’s veins, like waves breaking on a rocky shore, and her lips pulled into a snarl.
“I have every right to blast your brains out.”
Tears rolled down Iliana’s cheeks. “I’ll do anything.”
“Where are my?—?”
Kalie grunted as her head hit the floor. Knocking the pulser out of her hand, Iliana held her down. Sweat covered her flushed face. She pulled back her fist, and Kalie flinched—then her nose snapped.
She screamed.
Holy Azura, thepain. It came in waves of agony, throbbing and intense. Heat burned her face as sticky blood gushed from her nose, dribbling down her lips. She tried to raise her hand to wipe it away, but Iliana kept her arm pinned to her side.
“I’m not going back to prison,” Iliana growled. She pulled her fist back. “Never again.”
Kalie choked back a sob as her fist crashed down.
Bone crunched, and she howled. Darkness clouded her vision, and blood dripped into her eyes. Iliana became a blur of black hair and white skin, rippling over her. Kalie twisted her head to the side. Faint white glows shone through the jagged openings in the shattered windows, casting the hallway in shadow.
Coppery blood clogged Kalie’s throat. She coughed, and crimson dots splattered on Iliana’s silk dress. Iliana’s shifting features steadied as she wrinkled her nose at the scarlet beads.
A distraction.
Kalie spat a glob of blood into Iliana’s face. With a sound of disgust, Iliana let go of her wrist and swiped it away.
She slammed her fist into Iliana’s neck.
Her aunt gagged and recoiled, and her eyes bulged as she clawed at her throat. Kalie shoved her aside, lunging for her pulser. A hand closed around her ankle, but she tugged it free, crawling through glass shards and snatching the pulser’s grip. Blood rushed in her ears as she stumbled to her feet, aiming her pulser at Iliana.
“Don’t move.”
Iliana was standing, bent double at the waist, spluttering for air. The blood drained from her pallid face as she clutched weakly at the wall behind her.
“Help!” she bellowed. “Guards! Help!”
“Quiet!” Kalie’s finger twitched on the trigger.
But ending it like this wouldn’t bring Zane back.
A hollow ache settled in her chest. She pushed all thoughts of him away and stared into Iliana’s wide, desperate eyes. In those icy irises, she saw those who shared them. Aunt Calida, Lexie, Uncle Jerran, Mother, Theron, Lida. And in Iliana’s eyes, she saw herself. The damaged girl she might’ve been if Mother hadn’t saved her from the Etovian court, or if Uncle Jerran had thrown her aside like Iliana, or if Ariah’s sacrifice hadn’t saved her from Carik’s prisons.
She saw Ariah in Iliana’s eyes, too.
