Page 48 of Hopeless Kingdom
Because of her.
“Stop,” Tristan pleads, his voice unheard over the soaring sound of my heartbeat filling my ears.
My heartbeat is too loud.
I bring the blade up between us, driving it up through the center of her rib cage. Hot blood seeps through my tightly held fingers. I watch with rapt attention as the life in her eyes fades away into a dull look of death.
A painful feeling stings my chest and I realize I don’t feel any better.
This woman’s blood coats my hands and yet, my father is no more alive than he was five years ago.
Minutes pass and I’m still staring into her empty eyes.
“Kara, we have to go.” I peek at Ryder out of the corner of my eye. “Tristan ran. Soldiers will be here any minute. Either rain down some wrath or let’s get the hell out of here.”
My eyes close with a shaking breath.
He abandoned his own mother?
What kind of person turns their back on their family?
Then I realize, I ran to save myself as well when my father was murdered.
History simply repeats itself.
My throat feels dry when I swallow down the emotions building in my chest.
“We have to go.”
“We can’t leave Darrio and Daxdyn,” I say, finally releasing the woman, slipping my blade from her body and letting her hit the floor with a solid thud.
“Darrio’s on his way, I heard him follow after Alexia took me from your room.”
Alexia.
The woman I killed was named Alexia.
I look up to find Darrio’s wide shoulders filling the doorway. He stares at me in awe, taking in the tips of my wings to the angled lines scarring my arm. Then he sees my face. I don’t know what he sees there but it has him crossing the room to me.
Strong arms wrap around me and I bury my face in his broad chest. My hand, slick with blood, grips the hem of his shirt.
With a heightened sense of hearing, I hear the distinct sound of feet stomping through wet grass. Several of them. Dozens. How many exactly I can’t be sure.
Darrio and Ryder still have cuffs circling their wrists.
My fingers wrap around the iron and I pull hard. I put all of my energy into pulling at the metal encompassing Darrio’s wrist.
But it doesn’t move.
“It’s not normal iron, Kara.” His hand trails over the glossy black feathers that reach above my head. “Gods above, is she really the Eminence?” He doesn’t look away from me. His question goes unanswered.
I can’t focus on anything he’s saying.
“Where’s Dax?”
“He’s still in your room.”
My lips part as I try to focus on how close the soldiers are.
