With every beat of Ryker’s heart, an ache expanded in his chest. It started small but yawned until it was the size of a canyon.
A tear fell on Brynleigh’s cheek, and Ryker whispered, “How could you break us?”
Thick, unnatural silence covered them.
She didn’t answer him, and he didn’t ask again. He just… held her close.
One last time. One last hug. And then, he would let her go. He had to. She’d betrayed him. He’d already deduced that much from her earlier conversation.
How much worse could things get? Her deception was already a bitter river flowing through his veins.
A minute passed, but it could have been a lifetime. The door swung open. Reinforcements were here.
A buzzing filled Ryker’s mind. He was present, but not. When arms reached down to pull Brynleigh out of Ryker’s embrace, he didn’t fight them. He didn’t even say goodbye.
Ryker watched as the Chancellor’s military police took his vampire and the murderous shifter into custody. He didn’t attempt to stop them as they assessed the scene, took pictures, and spoke among themselves.
He pulled on a pair of sweatpants, answered their questions—there were so many fucking questions—and promised to come down to the station later.
Eventually, the reinforcements left.
The door closed behind the last officer, and Ryker was alone. Yesterday had been the happiest day of his life, and now…
Crimson covered everything in sight. The floor. The bed. His hands.
Ryker lifted his fingers, staring at them until red was the only thing hecould see.
Then he felt it.
Anguish wormed its way into the depth of his being. At first, it was just a crack, distant and barely there.
Then, he drew in a pained breath.
The crack exploded. Like ice breaking in the middle of a frozen lake, it rippled, fissured, and shattered.
Heshattered.
Devastating, world-ending, soul-crushing heartbreak consumed him.
It was like he was made of sand, and his heartbreak was the water crashing into him again and again and again. The waves kept going until he was completely, utterly destroyed.
Falling to his knees on the bloody carpet, Ryker lifted his head to the heavens androared.
“Oh,”Brynleigh breathed, her voice pulling Ryker back to the present. “Then, you… saw.” She swallowed, and her black eyes dimmed. “You heard?”
A lump formed in his throat, and the pain in her eyes caused his heart to twist. That was a gods-damned emotion that he had no business feeling.
Not here. Not now. Not withher.
Red tinged his vision, and his nostrils flared. Every beat of his heart sang the same horrible song.
Betrayed, betrayed, betrayed.
His heartbeat was a booming drum. Even his body refused to let him forget that he’d made a monumentally bad Choice.
Part of Ryker knew that Brynleigh belonged in The Pit. Although this place was horrible, she’d been planning on killing him.
Not only that, but ties had been uncovered linking Jelisette de la Point, Brynleigh’s Maker, to the Black Night. The rebel group was responsible for the bombing at the Masked Ball, as well as several other incidents that had taken place over the decades.