What did I do?
“Everything,” I whisper.
Killed him. Killed her.
Killed them all.
The air chills.
Rhordyn’s hand slides around the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair and corralling me against his cold chest.
My shocked stiffness drains away, and I melt against him, choking on a relieved sob.
Something sharp kisses me between the shoulder blades, and my eyes pop open, head kicking back. My gaze collides with his stare that’s all toiling anguish and lightning strikes of regret.
Frightening.
Beautiful.
“What are you—”
“I’m sorry,” he bites out, and a cool slice of sharp pierces through me like I’m made of butter.
My mouth drops in a silent scream.
I feel my fragile heart split. Feel something warm spill through me in pulsing increments. Horrified, I look down to see the curved tip of a talon emerge between my breasts with a bloom of blood ...
A shuddered breath tumbles out of me with a bubble of warm that sluices down my chin.
Drip.
Drip.
My knees give way. Rhordyn takes my weight, his face burrowed in the crook of my neck as he holds me close. “I’m sorry … I’m sorry … I’m sorry—” The words are ground out like he’s carving them into stone with the tips of his fingers.
I feel a sharp tug, feel the talon slip free, and then he lowers me to the dirt, my eyes rolling back to take in the spindly stretch of the naked willow tree waving above.
I try to breathe but my chest won’t inflate.
My heart won’t thud.
I tumble into an eclipse, fall into the dark rather than the light, a speck of dust floating through an icy void.
Nothing. Nobody.
Gone.
***
Ijerk upright with a gasp, hands patting between my breasts, blinking at the harsh bursts of silver light that seem to whip against the windowpanes, igniting the night in bursts.
No blade.
Not real.
Drawing gulps of air, I fold forward and cradle my hot, sticky face as bolts of pressure explode against my temples. The tempest howls outside, churning the ocean into a bucking beast. The ship creaks and groans and shudders and sways and makes my stomach swirl.
Blood dribbles from my nose, onto the sheets bunched around me.
