Page 24 of Honor Bound

Coleridge’s glare locked on Calstar. Roan frowned when he noticed the intense hatred that filled his father’s eyes. There was also a warning.

Calstar didn’t so much as flinch.

“You come here, accusing your son,” Calstar continued, voice strong despite his failing body. “But we both know it was your brother who committed the greater crime and you who let him.”

Coleridge’s face remained blank. “The Legion?—”

“Not the Legion… my daughter, Coleridge. We both know what really happened to my Nia.

“What are you talking about?” Roan could feel the question being ripped from his throat.

Calstar turned, this time looking directly at Roan.

“Tell him,” Calstar murmured to Coleridge. It was an order.

Something twisted deep in Roan’s chest. “Tell me what?”

“Who really killed your mother.”

Roan felt as if the world tilted. His breath came fast and sharp, his body suddenly coiled tight as steel wire. He turned to his father, searching for a denial, for anything that would make the words false.

But what he saw—was fury.

Not denial.

Rage, a guilty rage.

Coleridge’s hand flexed—a brief, telling motion. The cry of warning froze on Roan’s lips when his father pulled the laser sword from his hip. Before Roan could warn his grandfather, there was a flash of burning blue light followed by the scent of seared flesh.

Roan’s world narrowed to the crimson pool spreading across the stone. His chest burned, his lungs locked as if the very air had turned to glass inside him.

No…

Not him. Not like this.

The weight of everything he had never said crashed into him. He had wasted time. He had thought he had more.

He saw his grandfather’s knowing smile, the warmth of his voice, the wisdom in his words. And then?—

Nothing.

He staggered, muscles tightening, breath coming too fast, too sharp.

And then?—

Rage. Pure, black, unstoppable.

“NO!”

He lunged, blind with fury, but the soldiers were already on him, iron grips locking down as his father turned the blade in his direction. The soldiers yanked him back, forcing him to watch as his grandfather crumpled to the stone.

Roan stared down at his grandfather, breathing in and out through his nose. His eyes were locked on the blood pooling around Calstar. It had all happened too rapidly. He looked up when his father turned the glowing blade in his direction. The cruel intention radiating from his eyes. Roan lifted his chin, defiance burning in his own.

A sharp gasp cut through the chaos. Roan’s head snapped around as Julia stepped forward from the garden. Her eyes flashed with fierce determination.

“STOP!” Her voice snapped out the command.

Coleridge turned to her, his eyes cold and distant, his gaze assessing her as if she were a specimen. The moment his father realized who she was, Roan felt a palpable shift in the air, a sudden silence heavy with tension.

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