“Exactly. I'm not the kind of company someone outgrows either.”
If Zayne had an older sister, he would have liked for it to be someone like Imani. No one in the empire talked to him the way she did, and no one cared about people more than her. Once Ashantae managed to halt the interrogations, Imani didn't leave his side. She wasn't a soldier or a medic. She wasn't even a part of themilitia. No one could stop her without arresting her, though. Their people loved Imani, and there was already so much division about the situation. So, they let her stay while they dealt with the mess they made.
In the end, his father found them before Ashantae's people decided what to do, and the High General left nothing of them but scraps. These two lost everyone they loved even though they tried to save Zayne.
Their grief crushed his chest. And still they cared for him when they were victims of his father.
It hurt to accept their friendship, but he would never deny them anything.
Ever since Imani sat with Zayne in captivity, she stayed with him while he slept, no matter how much he fought her on it. To her credit, the nightmares were never as bad with her around.
Shifting, Imani settled her feet against his side.
“Get off me,” he said.
“Shut up, kid.” Imani nudged him with her toes.
He pushed her legs away. “I'm not a kid.”
“I'm not a kid,” she mimicked in a deep voice. “I'm a man. Zayne Riven, big scary super-duper soldier.”
He narrowed his eyes when snickering broke through her terrible impression of him.
“I only know two expressions,” she continued. “Frowning and frowning harder.”
Catching his scowl, he tried to straighten his face, and she burst into a laugh.
“See now you can't frown! You're too stubborn to prove me right.”
Hearing Imani laugh melted away any frustration. Zayne rolled his eyes, mostly out of obligation to act annoyed, and then let himself smile. A woman who lost as much as she did learned to cherish every good feeling. Wasn't that what Kira meant about learning to live? Though Zayne may not be able to do that for himself, it required no work to feel thankful for any shred of happiness Imani felt.
“Now sleep,” she said.
Back when she sat with him in the north, Zayne couldn't grow a full beard. He understood her treating him like a kid at the time. Now she did it out of fondness.
Why didn't they resent him?
Zayne's wishes didn't matter to his father. The High General vowed to kill all the officers in the militia and every person who knew about the attack. As forthose who drew even a drop of Zayne's blood, his father and the Phaedra tortured them to death. First, they inflicted every wound upon the soldiers that Zayne suffered, and then all the injuries of his comrades until death took them.
Ashantae did nothing except help Zayne, but that didn't matter. As a high-ranking officer in the militia, his father insisted upon no mercy, even with Zayne vouching for them. The High General didn't trust that Ashantae was innocent. Though for binding Zayne's wounds, he promised a swifter death for Ashantae and their wife. So, Zayne helped them fake their death and escape to the territories.
No one in the empire would dream of ever taking the family of a powerful official hostage again, as if Zayne wasn't stained with enough blood already. Precisely why extricating Kira from his parents' house was even harder than the highly secure prison. Who was willing to touch the house of the merciless High General?
Zayne trusted Ashantae and Imani with Kira, far more than he trusted her with himself. These two had gotten Zayne through the worst time of his life. Together, they'd find a way, but they also needed to survive.
And not waste their energy thinking about him. “I feel you worrying about me, Imani. Stop. I'm okay.”
“You've never been okay.” Sliding down the wall, she rolled onto her side. Her soft smile defied the deep pain in her eyes, but he'd learned to see how the two went together for her. “But maybe you can be one day. Maybe we can be, too.”
For as many ashes as he'd scattered in his life, he'd never lost his home, his family, and every person he loved. Imani's heartbreak exceeded his worst nightmares.
He tucked her hand between both of his. Imani lost her older brother and two younger ones to his father's rampage. Zayne did his best to stand in for them right now and care for their only sister, who was left mourning their losses.
Who did Kira have? Only him, and he hurt her.
“I didn't sit with Kira.” So much shame. “I abandoned her.”
Imani didn't offer advice or comfort like Ashantae would. Instead, she nodded. “Will you do better now?”
