Page 78 of A Warrior's Fate

His voice rang in her head, that clear look in his eyes was all she could see.

She killed him.

She heaved again. And again.

Until she could no longer hold on and simply fell back against the wall beside her.

And then she let herself sob for a few more breaths—in and out, in and out—before she steeled herself, wiped her tears as if nothing had happened, and allowed Ravona to walk her out of the Pack Hall.

CHAPTER 20

Isla was somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but she wasn’t sure where. All that mattered was she was away from everyone, everything. That it was only her and this ravine, the flowing water rushing below her swinging feet high above it as she sat at the edge of a cliffside.

She’d killed Lukas.

As the words went through her mind like a shot for the umpteenth time, she didn’t put her face in her hands. She didn’t cry. She’d run out of tears now. Been wrung dry of any feeling but numbness. But maybe that was good. It was a relief from the despair, the pain, the all-consuming guilt that had her close to passing out as she sobbed and nearly hyperventilated against the heat and dust around her.

Imperial Alpha Cassius knew she’d been with Lukas. He had to have. The way he’d looked at her, spoken to her…he knew it wasn’t injuries from the Hunt, he knew she’d been the one who’d done it. Maybe the whole conversation was supposed to build into an expression of gratitude for the loose end she’d gotten out of the way. She’d done him a favor.

Goddess…

Isla’s hand went to her mouth. She was going to be sick again.

The sound of approaching footsteps didn’t make her jump. Didn’t make her turn. She didn’t have the energy to anyway, even if she hadn’t known who was approaching.

Adrien and Sebastian made no effort to mask themselves, and as if they could sense how upset she was, moved upon her cautiously. The Pack Hall’s courtyard had been empty when she’d stepped back into the suffocating air outside, and she’d been grateful for it. She couldn’t face them. Tell them what she’d done.

Murderer.

She grimaced.

She was. She was. She—

“Lukas is alive.”

Adrien’s words were completely lost on her at first. Just sounds amongst the rush of the water. But then they became clearer as she played them again.

And again.

And again.

Lukas is alive.

She lifted her head and blinked at the landscape, letting the sentence run a few more times before she spun around to face him. “What?”

This had to be a hallucination, a dream. She had passed out beneath the beating sun. It was a foreign poison on the blade that had strange side effects. Because there was no way—no way—that Isla was hearing what she thought she was.

But Adrien paused at her side and said it again.

“He’s not dead. My father only told you that he was.”

“What?” she repeated herself, but Adrien didn’t. He stayed silent and allowed the words to sink in.

Lukas is…alive?

Isla was really going to throw up now—the relief, doubt, and anger churning through the numbness, beyond the despair, that made her nauseous. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take. The up and down, back and forth.

The tears were returning, and Isla glanced down at the water. “He lied to me?”

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