Page 15 of Seasons of War
“I don't need to try. I'm all you have.” He drew back just enough for his stare to pierce her own. A dim hint of blue shone through the gray of his eyes, like a glacier hidden beneath fog. Ice cold. The coldest she'd ever seen. “I'm a poison you'll beg to drink.” His utter contempt for her permeated his every word. “Play along until you inevitably give in to me. You have no idea what I could do to you without anyone knowing.”
He slid back, but she couldn't suck a breath into her frozen lungs. His ice worked through her veins.
“Understand?” His guttural whisper sounded more like a groan than words.
No part of Kira wanted to surrender to his intimidation, but she needed to learn how to survive in this prison. And it didn't matter that she wanted to be brave. Needed to be the kind of person strong enough to withstand him. Rightnow, with him close enough to leech every bit of warmth from her body, Kira couldn't speak. So, she nodded.
The cruelty dredged up memories she meant to lay to rest. Every time she'd seen a soldier strike an innocent person. Mock them. Kill them. He didn't see her as human.
That might be her only hope of survival. To find a way into his heart. But it felt impossible to find any decency in him.
Zayne Riven turned his back on her and stalked to the door. Expression neutral, with none of the intimidation from before, he nodded at the exit. “It's time to return to your cell, Ms. Stiles.”
Numbness replaced the cold. So much that she lost all feeling in her body as she followed after him, out of the sunshine, and into the dark of the prison.
CHAPTER 4
Zayne
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
Light crawled from beneath Zayne’s curtains. He reached for the white specks floating in the dimness, watching them dissolve to pinpoints of blood on the tip of his finger. The scent overpowered him, far stronger than a few specks. As strong as that room in the North.
That room. All that blood.
All that blood...
Was he awake?
From the corner of his eye, he saw her shifting. The girl who followed him from his nightmares into the shadows. The dirt road leading to Bluehaven opened before him, and she waited across the dusty expanse, her wide pupils faintly visible beneath a crusting film of death.
Cracked lips opened to a smile full of broken teeth.
Hot breath washed down his neck. “Wake up!” Edwards’ voice screamed.
Zayne shot up in bed and opened his eyes to the tan walls of his apartment. The nightmares clung to his body, his thoughts, slowing the world as he peeledthe slick sheets away. His wound screamed with pain, so he focused on it to tether himself to reality. He needed to go for a run. That was the only way to shake the feeling of the girl with no teeth watching him, but he couldn't in this condition.
Several seconds passed where Zayne remembered nothing except for his nightmares, but when he glimpsed the report on his nightstand, a burning heartbeat brought the previous day back to him. All that terror in Kira's eyes.
The report carried an encoded message warning him the Phaedra had captured Kira Stiles, but Zayne arrived home too late. Even if he'd been here, his friend, Reinard, only found out after the arrest.
Though Zayne spoke no promise aloud to Kira three years ago, he made one to her that night. One she'd never know about. For her courage, he'd always protect her. Kira only had herself. Zayne possessed all the military and political power afforded to a Riven. It was the least he could do for her.
Yet he'd failed her. And worse, he'd terrorized her. The things he said to her… The way she'd looked at him…
Seeing the horror in those green eyes hurt with the same intensity as the metal shrapnel twisting in his thigh.
“Shut up.” Zayne squeezed his thigh, pain hijacking his mind to silence every thought.
Numbness slid down his chest. No fixating on her feelings or his. Not allowed. Kira needed to hate him to ensure she never softened to him. There'd be constant surveillance and no room for mistakes.
But it meant making a harrowing nightmare more miserable for her. Damn it. If only Zayne had figured out who she really was before the Phaedra. There'd been no signs, though.
Now she was caught in the Phaedra's mission to destroy the Followers and their ties to the United. A more dangerous position didn't exist.
