Page 93 of King of Ruin

I don’t get to hear Trigger’s response because the gate buzzes before taking entirely too long to slide open. When it does, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I fish it out as I take the paved road up and around. “Yeah?”

“Sorry about that Z. Trigger’s still a little bitter. Boss isn’t in here. She’s down past the rose bush mazes by the little pond on the other side of the property.”

My mind goes over the blueprint Trick once showed me. It was an area I never really went to as it wasn’t one of the places guards were required to patrol. But then, it hits me.

The cemetery.

“I’ll park in the back and walk over there.”

A heavy huff causes static on her end. “Z. I don’t know how she’s going to be when you get there, but I hope you give her some grace.”

I nod even though Maddy can’t see me and hang up, driving a little too fast up the driveway. If Onyx agrees to even talk to me, I plan on giving her more than just grace.

When I get to the side of the estate near the kitchen entrance, I park and bolt from my car. It can’t be more than a few minutes away on foot, but the closer I get, the heavier my feet feel. There’s a stiffness in the air, an unsettling quiet filling it.

My shoulder burns as I run past the rose bushes and down a slope toward the pond. When it comes into view, the pain subsides into a dull ache, replaced by a vicious burn as I find Onyx on her knees.

She’s under a massive oak tree, facing away from me, and toward two large headstones. Clutched in her hands are two bouquets of white roses, stems both long and short, the tips jagged as if ripped from the bushes, and covered in dark red blood.

The closer I walk, the clearer I’m able to make out the unsteady rise and fall of her shoulders. They shudder as she breathes, almost as she can’t get enough air.

She peers over her shoulder briefly but even in that short second, the moon overhead lights up the streaks of blood painting the side of her face.

Again, the tender muscle encased in my rib cage aches to see her this way. Not because of the gore clear from her time with Sam, but the meaning behind his death. The reality she’s coming to terms with.

“Get away from me, Kane.” Her voice is a hair below deadly.

I take a step forward. “No.”

She rises, turning to face me fully. She’s covered in blood from head to toe, her fingers still dripping with the evidence of her justice. And never has she looked so damntormented.

“I don’t need you to save me!” she bellows, her eyes widening as I take another step.

“I’m not here to save you.”

“Then why?” She runs a hand through her tangled ends, streaking more blood through it. “To collect your fallen soldier?”

I shake my head and take one last step. I’m a foot away now–close enough that she could strike me if she wanted, but far enough away she doesn’t feel threatened. I want her to know she’s in control even if she doesn’t feel like it.

“I expect nothing less than for you to put that fucker six feet under. I’m here to sit with you through the storm. Through the pain.”

She laughs. It’s bitter and strained, and the sound tugs on my heart. “What pain? Can’t you see? I’m done. It’s over.”

I clench my fists together before shoving them in my pockets to keep from reaching out to her. She can’t see what I do. Her edges are frayed, the unknown is finally here, and she is about to be hit with the aftermath. Why else would she be here?

She holds out her hands, as if to display she’s perfectly alright. “I’mfine.”

“You don’t have to do that with me, Onyx. You don’t have to hold on to this persona of someone who doesn’t care. Youneverhave to do that.”

Her brows pinch together briefly before she takes a hard swallow and steps back, shaking her head. “I told you the next time I saw you, I’d kill you. Was the bullet in your shoulder not a sufficient enough warning?”

“I guess not.”

Her lashes flutter. “You’re an idiot.”

I shrug, drawing my lips downward. “Yeah, probably. But when it comes to you, I’ve done some pretty idiotic shit, and I haven’t regretted a thing thus far, so why not keep going?”

Onyx looks to the ground for a beat, then peers over her shoulder to the graves. For a moment, I think she’ll put back on that protective armor she loves to wear, and shrink away, stuffing everything down like she’s done this entire time. But when she turns to face me again, tears stream down her face, clearing a path through the blood on her cheeks.

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