Page 78 of Kiss the Dawn
He backs into the building, and I follow.
The foyer is dimly lit with a high ceiling and a set of steps leading up to the first floor. There are lifts to the right and a set of fire doors at the back through which a second man appears. He’s taller, broad with dark hair and steely eyes that fix on me. His smile holds the imprint of a lie.
“Your Highness,” he says, his tone clipped. “This way.”
He waits at the door, holding it open.
Another flare of unease blooms in my gut.
“Oh my God, is he here?” A young woman in a lab coat pokes her head round the door, her eyes flying wide at the sight of me. She lets out a squeak, then covers her mouth.
The dark-haired man rolls his eyes and cracks a smile. “We’ll be up in a moment, Celia,” he says. She hurries off, and he turns back to me. “Your Highness?”
I’m ready to get this over with. I take a step, and the door behind me bursts open.
Orina’s scent hits me, and I turn on my heel to find her standing in the doorway, her silvery locks wild about her flushed face.
Her chest heaves as her gaze locks on to me. She opens her mouth to speak, but all that emerges is a growl as the darkness takes her.
ORINA
I made it. I fucking made it. He was here. Not trapped yet. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, and my throat closed as rage swelled in my chest.
My vision darkened, and the world was painted red with Ezekiel as a bright glowing focal point that I needed to extinguish.
No…No, no, no.
Kill him. You want to kill him. The bastard. The evil bastard.
Every moment that Ezekiel had hurt someone flashed through my mind. Jeremy’s head in a pool ofblood. Mary’s dying whimpers. Laroux eviscerated on the floor and Agatha…Oh God, Agatha.
I drew my blade. I wanted to kill him.
“No, Orina!” Henry yelled. “Get back!”
But I couldn’t stop. Wrath choked me, stole my breath and my will, and the only thing that could sate it was watching the light in his eyes die.
His eyes…
He watched me with sad acceptance.
He didn’t run.
He wouldn’t fight me.
I knew it because…
He loved me.
Every moment that he’d saved me passed through my mind. His body shielding mine when the batlings attacked. His arms wrapping around me and begging the ghost of Emelie not to hurt me. Him throwing Shay off me and scooping me into his arms. I saw him crouched in a cell desolate and lost. I felt his pain. Visions of his torture flashed through my mind.
The darkness surged, attempting to drag me down, but this time I fought it, clinging to the memories like a raft in a stormy sea.
EZEKIEL
Power flares around me, Orina, and something else. Something alien yet familiar. It’s behind me, but I can’tlook back. I can’t take my eyes off the woman I love as she strides toward me, eyes as black as night.
She raises her sword, ready to strike.
