Page 125

“Haleika?” I asked. “Is she all right?” Oh, Gods. She loved him. She was probably heartbroken. I looked to Rhyan, and his eyes were red, his face full of anguish. My heart hurt just thinking of it, of the agony she must have been feeling. “Where is she?” I had to go to her. Comfort her.

Eathan shook his head. “Her body is being kept in the Shadow Stronghold overnight.”

“What? Why?” I asked just as Rhyan cursed under his breath.

Rhyan caught my eye, his jaw tensing. He gave me the slightest shake of his head.

“Eathan, is she okay? Why would she be there?”

And then his wording sank into my mind. He hadn’t saidshewas being kept in the Shadow Stronghold. He’d said herbodywas.

“She’s being kept there,” Eathan said, “because Leander was too late to save her. The akadim ate her soul.”

“No.”

“She’s in the process of changing. She’s forsaken now. In between. But by nightfall tomorrow—”

“No. No. No.” I couldn’t stop, as if I said it enough, I could undo it, make his words untrue. My chest heaved, my stomach twisting, tears falling from eyes. “Eathan, no. No.”

He bowed his head. “As soon as the sun sets tomorrow night, Haleika Grey will become an akadim. And she will be killed.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“I’msorrytodeliversuch upsetting news. Now, I must,” Eathan cleared his throat, “I must go back out there. Details to go over. People to talk to.”

I stood frozen in place, my head swimming as Eathan walked away. Every footstep seemed to pound into the floor, too loud, too jarring. The door slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing in my ears.

Haleika, an akadim? Haleika dying, transforming, her soul gone—eaten. And Leander…Leander…Gods. I couldn’t process this, believe this, accept it. I couldn’t….

I sensed Rhyan moving across the room. His steps were slow and measured, almost as if he were walking in a trance as he approached me. He stood before me, not speaking, not looking at me, his aura leaping out in powerful gusts of cold, frosting my skin. Ice crawled over every exposed inch of my body, and when I exhaled, my breath was visible on the air. I felt numb and frozen inside. My hands shook helplessly in front of me, and I wanted desperately to reach out to him. I needed to touch him, to reassure him, to reassure myself, to take us out of the cold and the dark. Back to the cave. Back where it was warm, where we were safe.

But I didn’t touch him. I couldn’t.

His fingers tensed, knuckles whitening, the tendons on his forearms tight. His entire body stilled with tension. He didn’t move, just stared ahead, his eyes red.

We remained like that, not talking, not moving as a minute passed and another. We stood together in the storm that raged in and out of our bodies, neither of us attempting to warm ourselves. The only sound was his heavy breathing, rough against the pained sound of mine, and then he sat, his eyes screwed shut, his hands fisted in his lap. A tear rolled down his cheek, and his lips trembled. I turned to him at last.

“Rhyan.” My voice came out a tremorous whisper.

Another tear fell down his face, and then another as he swallowed.

“Go to him,” he said, voice breaking. “She was his cousin, right?”

“She—” I cleared my throat, not sure I could speak. “She was.” Was—past tense. She was Tristan’s cousin. She was my friend.

“He needs you. Go to him. Comfort each other.”

“And you? Are you all right?” I asked, my heart breaking. But I already knew. I knew Rhyan so well now. I knew the guilt he was internalizing, the blame he placed on himself for the role we’d played tonight. I knew he was consumed by the fact that he hadn’t stopped the threat, the feeling that he could have done something more—moved faster, been stronger, kept Haleika and Leander from this fate. I knew he felt that it was somehow his fault, his responsibility.

I’d felt the same when I hadn’t been able to save Jules. When I hadn’t been fast enough to keep my blood oath to Meera. And now I felt it tonight—the guilt slicing me to the core of my very soul. Gods. The guilt….

Rhyan stood. “I have to get out of here.”

“Rhyan, wait.”

“I should have known,” he said darkly.

“Known what?”