Page 2 of Ruthless Kings of Vengeance
Another time I arrived too late, found only a body growing cold on pristine marble floors.
"Do you love me, Aries?"Iris's voice echoes from the past, carrying all the weight of questions I never properly answered.
Of chances I let slip away until it was too late.
But this isn't then.
This isn't Iris.
This is Gemini —Evageline —the woman I swore to protect despite my own damaged heart. The one who saw through mycarefully constructed walls and called me out on using her as replacement therapy for my own unresolved grief.
The tracking signal becomes almost deafening as I break through a final line of trees into a small clearing. Moonlight streams through bare branches, illuminating a scene that makes my blood freeze in my veins.
Eva lies motionless on frost-covered ground, silver hair fanned out like a war banner. A massive dog—some kind of wolf mix —paces anxiously around her prone form, alternating between mournful howls and desperate whimpers.
My training kicks in automatically as I sweep the area for immediate threats, cataloging the dead assassin crumpled nearby, the strange screen device on their chest still displaying The Blind One's face. But it's Eva who draws my focus completely — the sight of crimson spreading beneath her making something primal roar to life in my chest.
No. Not again. Not like this.
I drop to my knees beside her, fingers immediately searching for a pulse while my other hand activates the emergency beacon that will bring our medical team running.
Her skin feels too cold under my touch, her breathing shallow and irregular.
"You don't get to die," I find myself whispering, the words emerging rough with emotions I've spent years trying to bury. "Not before I fix this. Not before I prove I can protect someone properly this time."
The dog whimpers again, pressing close as if sensing my desperation. I ignore it, focusing entirely on monitoring Eva's vital signs while we wait for help to arrive.
Because I won't lose another one. Won't let another silver-haired warrior fall because I was too caught up in my own fuckery of failures to see the danger clearly.
It was stupid of me to stay away. Despite her Kings emphasis that I should leave her be, I watched from a distance knowing I wouldn’t be caught till doing my job.
Tonight was supposed to be no different.
Watch the woman you still care about in someway go through the challenges the world has set out for her. This ruthless, sinister world that cares not about age or experience, but that you’re a threat.
A threat that needs to be exterminated…
“I’m sorry,” I dare whisper as I fight to find the source of the blee, scurrying to tug on fabric material that looks so innocent and useless because it couldn’t even protect her in this unexpected instance. “Why? Why didn’t you stay inside. You and your big damn heart.”
The sound of approaching sirens cuts through the night air, but I barely register it.
My world has narrowed to the woman lying too still before me—to counting each precious heartbeat as proof she's still fighting.
“Please, V…Verena…please.”
I find the wound in seconds, can still seat the glint of the bullet while blood oozes out like flowing water going down a nile.
Fuck…
I can’t allow to think, my body moving while my mind is scurrying about the past and how I hurt her.
"You don't want to be MY Ruthless King," she'd said, voice cracking with hurt I pretended not to notice.
She’s wrong…
I did want it. Wanted it so badly it terrified me, because I assumed no one else would ever surpass Iris. No one would make my heart beat with worry the way she once did.
I just couldn't admit it without betraying Iris's memory.
