The muscles in Kiton’s neck tensed, but when Sabine ramped up the Soul Resonator, and Vesperin released a choked, pained cry, he settled with a hiss.
"Forever. I have known she is mine forever." Rage burned hot in the cold depths of Kiton’s eyes as he looked at Sabine and Talor. "You have done so much to me, but you have never—been able—totake—her from me." He spoke carefully, each word measured against some unseen scale.
A hypothesis slowly formed:
Could obsession be conditioned away, or would it remain even when every other emotion was dulled?
Sabine focused back on Lucien. "It seemed that the nireloo being turned away from its new master after harmony was too much for the tiny creature. It died of a broken heart." The tip of her heel brushed Vesperin’s shoulder, and the small action made her wheeze in pain as her body was jostled.
She was done with the waiting. She had given Kiton enough time.
"Enough, Phoenix. It is time to make your decision." She stepped forward, turning the dial up, up, higher than it ever had gone. The sounds of pain cut off. The body reached a point where it had surpassed agony, when even a sound scraped raw against a bloody throat.
Sounds wentin and out of focus for Rin. Lucien was limp atop her. Auren’s fingers curled around her forearm, holding her as if to anchor himself—to forget the pain. She wished she could forget or pass out. Nothingness would be better than this.
Through the fog of pain, she watched Kit—the last of her Soulbonds, the missing piece. Could he make her whole?
His lips moved. She couldn’t hear him. Her ears rang, full of blood.
It looked like he said, "I am sorry."
Sabine and Talor turned away, leaving, as Kitwillinglyfollowed.
The device was shut off, slipping into Talor’s hands.
Rin’s entire body loosened. It no longer felt like her Soul was trying to claw its way out of her flesh.
Only one guard was left, and as Sabine stepped over Jessa’s body—an innocent in all of this—she told him, "Clean that up."
The guard lifted Jessa’s body and threw it over his shoulder as if she were worthless.
Rin watched as Kit left with his parents and the lone guard. He stared at her until he disappeared around the wall, into the faint blue glow. In their wake, she felt her chest seize. She coughed, blood tickling the back of her throat as she spat it onto the concrete. She couldn’t move. Everything hurt.
Her head fell back against the ground, and her eyes drifted closed. She just needed to sleep…
Auren’s bare hands were cool against her cheek as he gently patted her awake. "Vesperin," he rasped. The corners of his mouth were red with blood. "Vesperin, please, Hunter, you must wake up. They are gone. We have to go. We do not know what she—that device—did to us."
Rin breathed raggedly. "Auren, I can’t—" Her weak hand fell to her head. "Hurts."
Auren had no strength left as he fell atop her, his forehead pressing against hers. Lucien was still closely pressed to her other side, out cold.
"I know, I am sorry." Auren’s lips grazed hers as he spoke. He smelled of iron. Or maybe that was just her. "We have to go." Ashe pulled away, she felt some of his blood drip onto her cheeks and get in her mouth.
He made a pained sound as he pushed himself away from her. As he reached for his scythe and lifted it, his hands trembled. He cut it through the air, a swirling portal forming. He began to reach for Rin, but she was staring at the blood on the ground—all that was left of Jessa. The air was thick with the scent of wrongness, she could almost taste it on her tongue. The same bloodied terror that had permeated the room after Nessen’s demise.
Rin reached out, pressing her fingertips beneath Lucien’s jaw the way he always did to her. It made her heart squeeze. He had to be okay. She counted the beats with her unskilled mind. It tripped like hers, but it wasthere.
Auren slipped his arms beneath her, lifting her as he still held his scythe, keeping the portal open. His strength was thin—she felt it in the weakness of his touch.
She exhaled, her head falling to Auren’s chest. "No, we can’t leave them.Cyrus—you heard what Jessa said. He left. He wouldn’t l-leave." She could barely speak.
Half-kneeling and wavering yet holding her so gently, Auren peered down at her. "What would you have me do, Hunter?"
"He’s not—he may need us. And Rhyden. I told him to stay. He listened, but won’t… forever."
"Rhyden will not jeopardize our mission here."
"No, you didn’t hear him." Weakly, she reached for Auren. Her fingers landed on his jaw, slipping down to his neck. "He sounded so scared. So vengeful. If we don’t tell him we’re okay, he’ll burn it all—and everyone inside."
