Page 127 of Fearless

“Get away from him!” I shout, waving a weak arm in their direction. Disregarding me with continued vacant stares, they reach for his body, each of them grabbing a limb. I snatch the discarded sword from the sand and swivel it between the four of them. My voice is lethal, crazed. “Get. Away.”

This has them blinking, the action breaking their broadcast onto the screen. My arm shakes beneath the weight of the sword, but I don’t dare drop it. Still, the Sights begin to drag him away, leaving a streak of blood behind.

“No!”

I toss aside the sword, all my fight gone, to reach for his still body. He is being tugged across the sand and all I can do is stumble after him. “No, get away from him!” I trip in the trail of his blood, falling to my knees. Sobs shake my shoulders as I watch the Sights so carelessly yank him away.

“Please,” I whisper into the wind. It smells of death. Of ruin.

I could almost laugh.

That is what I was in the end. His ruin.

I stand on shaking limbs, coated in Kai’s blood. It’s still warm on my palms as I turn to—

Rage surges through me.

“You.”

I know he hears the accusing word from where he sits comfortably in that glass box. I’m not even sure who I am looking at anymore. All I see are the green eyes of a murderer.

My arm rises, and I point a quivering finger at the king. Anger rips from my throat, fueled by pain and the pillaging of my one love left inthis world. “How could you?! He was your brother!”

Blood pounds in my ears, loud enough to drown out the sudden spark of murmurs spreading through the crowd. I bend, wrapping bloody fingers around the hilt of that discarded blade once again. The sword drags through the sand behind me, its hilt pressed into my sticky palm. My steps are steadier than they should be as I march toward him, leaving a trail of blood in my wake.

“How could you?!” I scream again, my throat raw.

Kitt lowers his gaze, his head shaking slightly.

“Look at me!”

The demand rings through the arena, shutting the mouths of every gossiping Elite. I stand there, a lowly Ordinary, panting in the Pit beneath him.

And yet, when I command, he obeys.

Kitt’s eyes flick to mine, filled with a mixture of disbelief and despair. He takes me in, every grain of sand and drop of blood.

“How could—!”

An arm wraps around my torn neck, pressing a damp cloth over my nose.

My knees buckle beneath me.

My blazing eyes roll back.

And for a short time, I know nothing.

Not even the agony.

CHAPTER 46Kai

I am grief. I am sorrow. I am anguish alike.

CHAPTER 47Paedyn

Morning light has my heavy eyelids lifting.

I sit up swiftly, my head and heart pounding.

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