The room fills quickly, voices overlapping, bodies crowding, but it all fades to static. Kenzi drops beside me, her hand moving in slow, soothing circles against my back. She murmurs something to my father, confusion threading her tone. She doesn’t recognize the voice.
But when Matthias says the name.
Caesar.
Kenzi stiffens.
“Oh, come on now,” the woman mocks. “I saved you all that time and effort of looking for them.”
“And sent an army after my husband,” I hiss.
She laughs it off. “That was just my way of introducing myself.”
My hands curl into fists.
“Well, it was not nice to meet you,” I snarl. “Now leave us the fuck alone.”
Her next laugh is different.
Cold.
It slides under my skin and settles in my bones.
“Trust me, poppet. This is far from over.”
“Why?”
“Because you have something of mine,” she says softly, “and I want it back.”
My heart drops into my stomach.
My gaze finds my sister’s.
I already know.
There is only one thing she could want, and there is no universe where I give it to her.
“Kenzi.”
“Go to hell,” I snarl. “She isn’t yours.”
The laugh that follows is pure ice.
“Oh, but she is,” Caesar coos. “And I’ll be coming to collect her very soon. Be a good girl, Kenzi.”
The line goes dead.
And everything explodes.
Kenzi’s body locks up, muscles snapping tight like a drawn bow. I barely have time to react before instinct takes over. I roll just as her fist slices through the space where my face had been.
Fuck.
She moves fast, too fast. Kenzi is trained and precise. Her eyes are empty and every strike is meant to disable, not destroy.
“Kenzi, wait!” I cry.
She doesn’t hear me.