Page 83 of Realm of Wind and Vines
“Selena!” Alistair grabs me by the shoulders and spins me back around to face him. “They’re already dead.” His orange andgreen eyes are filled with pain and sorrow as he holds my gaze and repeats softly, “They’re already dead.”
Tears well up in my eyes. Shaking my head, I try desperately to unhear his words while a broken whimper escapes my lips.
“I’m sorry.” His eyes are filled with agony as he holds my gaze. “I’m so sorry.”
My knees buckle.
I crash down on the floor so hard that it sends a jolt through my body. But I can barely feel it. Pressing my palms against the floor, I bow forward and try to gasp air back into my lungs. My chest feels like it’s being crushed by a boulder. Broken sobs escape my lips, and my entire body trembles.
“Selena,” Isera says, her voice gentler than I have ever heard.
Still on my knees, I look up to meet her gaze. But she is standing right next to Draven, and my eyes immediately go to him. Galen and Lyra must have removed the iron chains that bound his wings, because he has now shifted into his fully human form. His face is still pale with pain, and Galen is bracing him with an arm around his back where they stand close to the door. As if they were just on their way to Haldia when Alistair and I returned.
There is a war going on behind Draven’s eyes as he looks at me. As if he wants to rush over and comfort me but at the same time doesn’t even want to touch me because of how much that flame of hatred in his chest is still telling him that he wants nothing to do with me.
Desperate longing and unyielding hatred fight in his eyes.
For one single moment, it looks like he’s about to rush over and wrap me in his arms.
But then the hatred wins out, and he looks away.
The final shard that remained of my already broken heart shatters into a million irreparable pieces.
“Get out,” I whisper, my voice hoarse.
Galen glances between me and Draven, pain evident on his face. “Selena, he doesn’t?—”
“Get out.”
They all just look back at me with eyes full of sympathy and pain. I can’t bear it. I can’t bear it. I can’t breathe. I can’t?—
“Get out,” I press out, my chest suddenly heaving. “Get out. Get out! GET OUT!”
My screams echo against the pale stone walls of the small study, but I can barely hear it over the blood roaring in my ears. I need to be alone. I hate having people around me when I’m in pain. I want to be left alone. I just want to be left alone. Oh Goddess, it hurts.
Alistair strokes a gentle hand over my back as he starts towards the door. The others thankfully follow him.
I gasp out broken sobs as they all leave the room and close the door softly behind them.
The moment the door clicks shut, everything inside me shatters.
Another desperate scream rips from my soul. Still on my knees, I bow forward and slam my fist against the ground while screaming my lungs out. Tears stream down my face like unstoppable floods.
They’re gone. My parents are gone. In less than five seconds, my entire world changed forever. And I can never get them back.
Agony slashes through my chest like claws.
I gasp in a panicked breath. Then another scream tears out of me, and I pound my fist against the floor over and over again while tears continue flowing down my cheeks. Broken sobs escape my lips before more screams rip out of me.
She killed them. Jessinakilledmy parents.
Pain slashes through my throat as I scream my fucking lungs out.
She killed them. She slit their throats like they were nothing. She wiped out their futures with one flick of her wrist.
Shooting to my feet, I whip my head from side to side in search of something to break. Anger courses through my veins like crackling fire.
I need to break something. I need to hear something break. I need to feel something break. Something other than my own heart.
