When he was gone, Kira rushed past Zayne and didn't stop until she wrapped Mom in an embrace.
“I'm sorry,” Kira said. “I didn't want to break your heart.”
Mom never openly cried, but she wept holding Kira's head against her. “You've done nothing wrong. Don't fight just to fight. Promise me. Protect yourself the way you'd protect the rest of us.”
His head lowered, his entire body hurting from the restraint of not gunning down anyone who stood in his way of breaking Kira out. That wouldn't work. He knew it wouldn't.
And once again, Zayne had to start over, because breaking Kira out of a prison changed everything. She'd live on camera.
A month ago, he thought it was easier to break her out of prison, but that was before the United tried to kill her.
His body tried to drag him to the ground. He resisted, staring at the floor while the strongest women he'd ever met held each other in the midst of a war that looked impossible to win.
“Hold home in your heart,” Mom said. “Don't let it go.”
“I have peace,” Kira said. “I'll be okay.”
“When that peace breaks, remember we're with you.”
Zayne's watch vibrated, and his knuckles ached with the need to bash his fist into something—someone—when he read the message. “It's time. The transport is coming.”
Mom shook her head, clinging to Kira. “You matter,” she said. “Saving your life is as important as every other person you're trying to save. I love you, darling girl. You're mine now, hear me? You're my daughter too.”
“I love you too.” Kira grabbed her one more time. “You're mine too.”
Fuck.
Fuck this.
His muscles coiled, tearing at his sore back.
When the women separated, they clung to each other's hands for another second and finally pulled away. Mom covered her mouth and bowed forward.
He walked with Kira out of his parents’ house and down to a military vehicle. Before getting in, Kira's gaze shifted to a cloudless sky, maybe searching for the stars the city lights blotted out.
There was only darkness above them, but it felt like Kira poked as many holes in his armor as they saw during the meteor shower. Tiny pinpricks that let the starlight shine through.
Her light made him see the shadows shifting in the corner of his eye. Made him feel the burning stare of the dead. If he looked, they might vanish. But if they didn't… If they only sharpened and came to life… They'd consume her too.
The dead were his stars. A constant, nightly companion no matter how far he ran. A powerful force that broke through all else to find him.
Edwards.
The men slaughtered in the North while he refused to talk.
The girl with no teeth.
It couldn't be Kira next. No matter what he needed to do, he couldn't let her join the dead.
The world twisted ever so slightly on its axis, so everything looked the same but felt so wrong and different.
Pain ripped his chest open along the seams of his scars.
He trained his eyes on the unseen stars above, the ones that never left, not even when the scarlet light from the Phaedra's tower blotted them out from his sight. He begged the dead to stay far away from Kira.
Zayne couldn't find a single thing worthy of saying to her. It all sounded like empty promises, pointless excuses, meaningless apologies.
She offered him the shakiest smile before ducking into the vehicle. Zayne looked back at his parents' house where his mom cried all alone.
