Chapter 82
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
PHOENIX
An image of Dad looking at me with his head cocked to the side, loving smile on his lips, surfaces to the front of my mind.
I had people I loved taken away from me.
Vasquez’s untamed laugh rings in my ears, the ruthless waves of the ocean echoing somewhere in the distance.
I have left people I cared deeply for in the past.
I close my eyes, but it doesn’t help.
The image of Daegel’s eyes widening with hope a moment before my blade sinks into his throat is vivid in my mind. All-consuming.
The pain of losing loved ones, of leaving them behind as a sacrifice, pales in comparison to taking away the life of someone who once felt like home.
I thought the dark hole in my chest where my heart lies couldn’t get any deeper.
Until I find myself at the very bottom, sinking farther down.