The soldiers parted—at least ten of them—revealing the sinister smile of her adoptive mother, trailed by Talor.
Sabine tsked. "I believe we have trespassers." Her eyes settled on Rin. "Apprehend them."
The guards, wearing heavy black armor and tactical gear—not the faceless masked guards above, but true, trained, deadly soldiers—surged forward. One grabbed Lucien’s arm, where he stood between them and Rin, protecting her. Auren was still. When she met his eyes, he made a subtle hand signal, a gesture to wait, as he slowly began to raise his scythe.
Heart in her throat, Rin nodded jerkily.
The concrete shuddered beneath Rin’s heels suddenly. The door pressing against her back vibrated. It was her only warning before it cracked, forcing her to stumble forward with a gasp, trying to get away. A hand slammed against the center of the steel door, leaving a perfect print.
The door caved in with a groan of bent steel, forced outward beneath the inhumane strength of?—
"Kit," Vesperin gasped.
Kit breathed heavily,shaking dust from his hair as he stood tall. It was a mere habit. He did not grow tired.
Return to the base. Return?—
He could trace the shape of the letters from memory. They never left him.
And now, they were imprinted over the vision of Vesperin. She wore a blue gown. Small things were stuck to the fabric’s ripples. It was… intriguing to him. Pretty. He wanted to ruin it. His mind had latched onto her, refusing to let her go.
He was obsessed.
Filled with the compulsive need to seek, to possess.
To crush.
Staring at her, it might be more than that. This was not the first time Kit wanted to protect—and not just hold her so tightly in his arms, she turned to dust.
She was all he saw at this moment.
Vesperin stumbled back, cherry red lips parting. "Kit." Her voice wavered. "Kit, you’re here."
"Vesperin," Kit said on a ragged exhale.
His eyes swept to the shadows, to a white-cloaked male he remembered.
The graveyard, the reality that had crashed down around him, sounding like bloody screams, suppressed shots in the head, smoke filling his lungs as his entire world ended in the Stars. A weight crushing his body. No oxygen. Then nothingness. Only to return to pain and fear as he had been cut up and put back together all wrong. A stitched, half-metal monster.
Everything had narrowed to revenge, but one thing pushed through it all. And that was her.
Guns clicked, raising. He seethed at the soldiers who held them up. They had formed a circle. Protecting someone? No one could run from him.
Kit’s boots shuffled over the stone as he dragged himself closer to her. "Eight letters." He bared his teeth, sucking in air. "Three vowels. Five consonants." Each syllable punched out of him was punctuated by the tapping of his fingers on his thigh. "I have searched for you. I have hunted you. You evade me. You ran from me." The monotone lilt that usually colored his tone was chased away by a sudden visceralneed. There was a pit in his Soul. He made a fist with his right hand. The wires connected to his brain knew what he wanted the metal to do. There was a faint whirring as he thumped over his chest. "I need you. I need you to make it stop."
He was almost begging.
Almost.
Vesperin’s eyes were darkened by something that shimmered on her lids. She blinked away tears, but not fast enough. One escaped, racing down her pale cheeks. He wanted to swallow it down. Maybe it would rid him of this emptiness.
Nothing could break through this haze. All he saw, all he wanted was?—
"Vesperin." The ragged edges of the word cut into his throat.
The guards stiffened. They held a man—Lucien.
Kit knew him. He thought he should know him. Didn’t he know him?
