“I won’t need to,” he smirked. “Oh, and Arken?”
“What?” I snapped.
“Consider this your warning.”
My mouth ran dry. For a moment, that motherfucker had actually rendered me speechless—and he didn’t seem to care, turning his attention back to the blonde between his legs. Before I could do something that I’d regret, I turned on my heel and stormed off, walking straight past Laurel, Sienna, and the rest of them.
“Ark,” Sia called, trying to follow.
“Don’t,” I snarled, tasting blood on my freshly bitten tongue. “I need to be alone.”
I didn’t bother to slow down or apologize. I just took off into the night with blood in my mouth, tears in my eyes, and crescent-shaped cuts on my palms, desperately trying to hold myself together. I needed to make it home.
Consider this your warning.
I just needed to make it home.
And then I could fall apart.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Kieran
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Kieran?”
Sienna Makar had some very choice words for me at the moment, and I deserved them all. If only she knew that there wasn’t a damned soul on this plane who hated me more than I hated myself.
I let the other Shadow Conduit tear into me, though, waiting for her to get it out of her system so that I could fucking leave and wash my hands of this place. It would probably take a hundred baths before I’d feel clean again.
And maybe even then, this damning act would linger on my skin.
You’re a fucking monster.
Yeah. A monster that did what needed to be done. I still needed to make sure it worked, though. The woman I loved, who I had just disrespected to a disturbing degree, was averystubborn creature.
“Are you done?” I asked Sienna, standing up.
She looked like she was almost ready to hit me. I almost wished she would.
“You’re unbelievable,” she sputtered. “You don’t deserve her. You will never fucking deserve her.”
Yeah. I knew that, too.
Makar continued her tirade, but I had stopped listening when I saw Jeremiah approach us from the corner of my eye. His voice dropped deadly low, quiet fury brewing in his eyes.
“Can I speak with you?”
I turned to Sienna, who was clearly still seething as well, and offered her the simpering smirk she expected of me.
“If you’ll excuse me, Miss Makar,” I said with a false bow. “Duty calls.”
“Eat shit, Vistarii.”
Hopefully, Fairchilde would make this short and sweet. I followed my lieutenant out towards the back exit of the tavern, into a quieter alley. Hans slunk out behind us both, keeping his head down.
“What thefuckwas that about?” Jeremiah demanded.
“You’re going to have to be more specific, Jer. But also, do you think you can be quick about it? I have somewhere to be.”