She fought back a sob at what she heard in his voice.
Zero.
You need to answer that one, Kitten.
Oh God, he wanted the answer too. He had no guarantees other than what she gave him. His entire existence rode on it. And Omnis. They were all holding their breath for that answer.
She’d give the exact truth of it.
“I loveyou,” she whispered, keeping her voice firm. “And I love Zero,” she followed. “And I love Omnis,” she finished, forbidding any guilt or shame.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered, head hanging.
Her chest ached. “They’re extensions of you,” she said, sucking in breaths. “You told me that.”
His head shook slowly. “Cat…”
Her guts tensed. His tone said she’d completely misunderstood it.
“I told you that… when I first introduced you. To help you understand something difficult to imagine. Why they were, why I made them. How. But they arenotme,” he said with heartbreaking conviction. “They couldnever be me.”
Her pulse hammered at how quiet he said that.
“Omnis,” he called.
Silence answered him. Then a low, “What.”
Oh God. Omnis was angry. Wounded. Broken like Ethan, somehow. What was he feeling for the man he’d only ever existed for?
“Tell meexactlywhat you told Cat… when you invited her to the dungeon.”
“I offered to train her to help you,” he said easily. No guilt.
“And Zero?”
“Youknow how he felt about her.”
“Yes, I fucking do,” he said quietly. “He despised her. Wanted to prove she was no good for me, wanted to prove she’druinme. Tell me…Omnis…what kind of lessons you created for her? I want the exact fucking details.”
“Before I start, you need to understand I don’t exist for you anymore. I exist for her.”
Oh holy crap.
Cat eyed Ethan, waiting for him to lose his shit.
“Noted,brother,” he said back.
“My plan was based on three types of pain. Pain that grounds. Pain that commands. And pain that opens.”
Hearing that again hit her hard. Each one of those lessons had changed her forever.
“She would receive training in all three and learn to use it to give you exactly whatyouneeded to reshape you. Tosaveyou.”
Ethan’s hanging head nodded. “Great fucking plan.” Accusation dripped from the compliment. “And exactlywhendid you go from helping Cat help me, to helping yourself to my wife?”
“At the deviation,” Omnis said easily and without a drop of remorse.
“Fuck,” Ethan muttered, his fury barely bridled. “Explainit.”