Kit ripped the bloody heel away from the guard’s neck, clutching it to his chest. It was warm with blood, slick. Small like the one who had worn it.
Vesperin stumbled away from the guard into the Soul Searcher’s arms. Lucien joined them. They each stood on either side of Vesperin, shielding her.
The Soul Searcher bent to retrieve his scythe, the Star on his cheek glowing as he swiped it over something in the corner, just above the dead woman’s body. The glow of the Star dulled. His shoulders loosened. Satisfied, he wrapped an arm around Vesperin’s shoulders, held his scythe up once more, and?—
Made a pained groan.
The Soul Searcher fell to his knees.
Vesperin went next, a soft series of pants as she tried to remain upright—a losing battle. Blood slipped from her nostrils, pooling in the bow above her lip, and dripping from her chin.
Lucien grabbed for her unsteadily, then fell by her side, wrapping his arms around her to protect her from whatever gripped them both.
Kit’s temples throbbed dully.
He turned his head sharply to the side, staring at his makers.
Sabine held a strange device, shaped with a wide, flared mouth. It was focused on the three who writhed on the ground.
Anger surged inside Kit. He took a step closer to Sabine.
Talor held up a gun. "Stay back."
"You hurt her. Stop," Kit seethed.
"This has gone on long enough. Do you not agree, Kiton?" Sabine clicked a button on the device. Vesperin gave a choked scream. "There is a way to get this to stop."
The orders… They changed. For the first time in months, since he had gone rogue.
Surrender or she dies.
Everything inside Kit froze. The mechanics in his arm whirred as his fingers tightened around Vesperin’s bloodied heel.
Rin couldn’t thinkpast the pain in her body. Her brain felt like it was going to split in two, her organs turn to liquid, her bones to jelly. Her heart was one long erratic beat in her chest. It was agony.
The concrete was warm with blood beneath her. She felt it drip from her pounding ears, tasted the metallic tang on the back of her tongue.
Auren clawed his way over to her. Blood fell from the corners of his eyes like scarlet tears. Rin sobbed. She tried to say his name, but couldn’t speak.
Through blurry vision, clouded by tears of pain and blood, she saw Kit frozen. He was speaking to Sabine, who held a device. The air around it seemed to ripple as she forced the device closer to them.
More pain.
Rin gave a weak, pathetic cry.
Shadows stretched across the floor, pleasant coolness brushing her ankles and twining up her calves. They slipped beneath her gown, shivering across her belly, up to her breasts, until they traveled up her jaw, grazing the comms behind her ear.
It felt like a phantom hand, holding her head up.
"My… shadow," Rin tried to say through the pain, but her lips barely moved. It was a soft exhalation of sound.
There was a crackling in her ear. She thought it to be her Soul, splintering beneath the weight of the pain. It happened again.
"Vesperin! Anyone? Fuck, I’m coming in," came Rhyden’s voice.
Rin sobbed.
Lucien patted her cheek. "Open your eyes," he begged above her. She hadn’t realized she’d closed them. When she peered blearily up at him, she saw his ashen face.
