Page 246 of Seasons of War
Warning flashed in Lance's wide and desperate eyes, but she had to try to save him.
“Captain Garrison, please. All you have to do is let him go.” She raised her voice. “I’m serious. I won’t talk unless he’s safe. I’ll take it to the grave.” Hands grabbed her. Held her back. She tried to twist free.
“You’ll tell me what I need to know, woman.” The captain tossed his uniform jacket on the ground. “This part, this is just for fun. Business can wait.”
Miya would resort to her only remaining move if he wouldn't listen. “The restricted data—” A hand clamped over her mouth. She screamed against the calloused palm.
The captain cracked his knuckles.
“Lance!” The hand muffled her screams. Not him. Please.
Lance’s stare didn’t waver from hers. Steady. Even when the captain knelt down and spoke to him in a hum that had Lance’s nostrils flaring. His attention didn’t drift from her. Not to unleash his rage on the captain and say everything she imagined he was dying to say. Lance didn’t leave her. And she wouldn’t leave him either. She gazed into eyes that were bursting with love and strength and compassion.
The captain ripped Lance's head back and punched him in the face. Blood sprayed against his hand. Stole Lance’s stare from her.
Miya screamed so loud it felt as if her throat burst.
CHAPTER 57
Kira
The Capital
Kallum, Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
Kira gripped the newspaper while Pumpkin walked between her legs. Since the slaughter and her return to prison, her mind often flitted away from her body, but the cat tethered her and saved her from drifting too far away.
Right now, at this moment, if not for the fur tickling her ankles, Kira would have vanished forever.
Tears dropped from her chin onto the newspaper, smearing the ink. Her hands shook too badly for her to read the words. She just stared at the beautiful, smiling photo of Adelle, unable to comprehend what she'd read.
After suffering a major heart attack, Adelle Riven passed away in the night.
It was a lie.
It had to be. A strangled sob broke from her tight throat, and she covered her mouth, on the verge of throwing up.
HE LIES
But something inside of her knew there wasa ring of truth.
Those dead eyes. The way Zayne looked when he brought the cat to her. Kira knew something terrible had happened. Something too devastating for Zayne to hide.
Adelle really did die.
“What did you do to her?” she screamed it at the camera overhead.
Searching for hints of Adelle through the painful memories of the past week, Kira battled to stay in control of her mind and to catch the tattered pieces of the bloodbath, the days spent in the gore, the chaos. She remembered so little, but a few moments glowed like Pixi Dust in her mind. Zayne's arms saving her. The weight of blood dissolving from her hair. His hands shaking while he scrubbed the floor.
Zayne didn't shake.
His hands were steady when she fell from the ledge and when he shot the soldiers trying to kill her. Fear never made him tremble. Not anger.
But washing his mother's blood from Kira's body did.
She fell against the wall, collapsing to the ground. Pain tunneled into her chest, tearing her apart.
