Chapter 35 #2
“Goddess,” he wailed again, though his voice was raspy and weak this time around. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Pure tranquility flew through me, collecting in my brain until our connection was cut off, and I fell back on my ass into a sea of blood as his hand went limp in mine, releasing me from his tight hold.
I sat static in front of his corpse, staring at him and granting him the wordless eulogy that I knew he deserved after what I had just seen.
A stray tear landed on my nose, but I swiped it away before anyone noticed. “He was a father,” I said flatly, the image of his young son branded into my mind.
“Huh?” Pia said from somewhere behind me.
“He had a wife. He lost his parents in a fire when he was really young. He grew up in the care of people he didn’t know.” My voice pinched out as I tried to bury the overwhelming dejection that had overcome me. “He loved to watch the sunrise.”
“What are you talking about? What the hell was that?” Kade shouted, his tone miserably masked by fear. “What did you do to him?”
Recentering myself, I glanced up and around. Right. We were in the interrogation room.
Sebastian pulled me to my feet, wrapping his arms around me, smothering himself with the blood that coated more of my body than not.
“I didn’t do anything. I just touched him, and I saw his life,” I tried to explain.
“What do you mean you saw his life? Why was he saying goddess? And why were you glowing like that? You weren't summoning the stars,” Kade continued, frantically pacing in front of the chair.
“I don’t know,” I said flatly.
“Well you must know something!” Kade yelled, tossing his arms up in dismissal.
“Chill out, Lyrise,” Sebastian scolded, tightening his grip on me as I began to shake, my weakening figure at last coming to terms with what occurred.
Before I could attempt to elaborate on what I saw, the door barged open. Sawyer pushed Leighton into the room, directing her to the empty chair beside our prior victim.
She squealed when she saw the dead body. “No! No, please! It’s not what you think. I swear,” she stuttered, her teeth already quaking in her jaw.
“Shut up,” Sawyer ordered, angling his dagger in my direction.
“Save it for her.” He dropped down and tied Leighton’s ankles and wrists to the chair, her not bothering to fight back.
When he finished, he stepped back to join us and angled a thumb at the dead Draemornian. “You couldn’t have waited for me?”
Kade shrugged. “Got carried away.”
I was still in shock from what had just occurred, and luckily, Sawyer, as observant as he was, picked up on my body language.
He took charge of the situation, his boots smearing what blood hadn’t sank into my clothing when he crouched in front of Leighton.
“Do I need Maeve to coerce you into telling the truth, or will you do it on your own?”
“I—I—I will. I will tell you. The truth,” she hyperventilated, her olive skin streaked with trails of tears.
“Good.” Sawyer smiled that deadly smile that he always sported right before he did something rash.
He pushed up to a stand, whipping behind her and grabbing a fistful of her hair, yanking her head to the side, forcing her to look at him.
“Tell me why you led those assholes to Lumosia. And don’t even try to lie. I’ll see right through it.”
I almost felt bad for her, but not enough to try and help her situation.
“He,” she pointed at the dead man next to her, “found me leaving Beaumont’s study.
I was able to hide the papers well enough before he searched me.
But he recognized me as the girl who fled the dungeon with them.
” She gestured her head to Sebastian and Kade.
“He saw right through my claim about being taken hostage by Caelestians. He told me if I didn’t cooperate that he would kill me,” she wailed, her streams of tears getting thicker.
“So you told him where we are? You led him straight here,” Sawyer snapped, releasing her hair.
Her head fell forward. “I didn’t have a choice! He was going to kill me.”
Sawyer pouted his lips in a taunt. “Aw. Poor baby. Well, this is going to be really full circle for you, because I’m going to kill you instead.”
“You could have warned us when you got back,” Sebastian growled, stepping forward with his dagger extended, blood from its previous victim still dripping from the tip.
“No,” she cried. “Please! I have more information about Maeve.”
Sawyer scoffed. “Nice try.” He angled his dagger towards her chest.
“I swear!” she screamed. “I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure. But I’ve been researching and am almost positive.”
Sawyer shook his head. “You're just spewing nonsense to delay your death, and I’m not falling for it.”
Her swollen, green eyes found mine, silently begging for assistance.
Sawyer raised his blade, but I jumped forward, pulling his arm down and stepping in front of Leighton. “Tell me,” I commanded, the jewels in my cheek twitching with the escape of my words.
“The energy of a god cannot be destroyed. It has to take up another residence in another form. I have a theory that when Blythe took you through the transition, her energy encapsulated itself into your soul,” Leighton spat out in her trance.
My eyebrows knitted together. “I thought we knew that. She gave me some of her power.”
“Or more than some,” Leighton implied. “Since her soul was immortal, it had to go somewhere. It couldn't simply go beyond the veil or roam the planet like the other lost souls.”
My eyes bulged with skepticism.
“I swear, I’m telling the truth,” Leighton cried out.
“The truth doesn't mean much from someone who betrayed us and this land,” Kade snapped back, stepping forward with his blade. “Anything else to share?”
Without another word or glance at anyone, I stepped out of the room. My mind could not process anything else today, and if it was forced to, I thought I might die.
I heard Leighton wailing and begging for her life as I walked through the hall, silence filling my ears before I had reached the end of the corridor.