Chapter 19
Huddled in the filth and unable to stand from the shock, I watched Zion deal with all the men.
Actually, I tried to keep up, but he was fast—more like an army of shadows than a single man. A minute later, he finished the fight and, inexplicably, made all five men vanish, taking them one by one. His words still echoed in my head.
“You want to have fun with descendants? Come on, then! Let’s have some fun.”
My mind was spinning, and I didn’t think it was just from the alcohol. Or was I so drunk I’d misunderstood? It could also be the shock—I was definitely in shock from everything I’d witnessed.
I saw shadows moving along the side of the alley and knew he’d returned.
As he walked toward me, he was nothing but thick, dark shadows, making the air shimmer in his wake.
It was strange to watch his combat form—he seemed to steal the darkness around him and transform into a mass as black as liquid pitch.
When he got close enough for me to make out the contours of his face, he stopped and became solid again.
He stared at me with such disgust that if we were in a cartoon, I would have melted into an amoeba just to escape that look.
But this wasn’t a cartoon, and although I was relieved he’d saved me, part of me remembered I shouldn’t care what he thought of me—we were nothing more than strangers. I was infinitely grateful, but that was all.
Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I stood up so slowly that a six-month-old baby would have done better.
First, I got on all fours, then braced my hands on a trash can, and soon I was standing.
I must say it was a deplorable scene, worthy of pity—and probably something I’d remember whenever I thought about drinking.
My abdomen hurt like hell and the alcohol still made me dizzy, but at least the infernal headache had disappeared.
I ran my hands over my belly to check for any injuries or something lodged there, but found nothing.
I stared at him, just inches away. The word “descendant” still tormented me. He’d said he was a descendant, but how was that possible? I would have noticed if he were like me.
“What the hell happened here?” Zion finally asked, and he didn’t seem happy at all. His hands were clenched into fists, stained with blood, and he was breathing hard. I realized it wasn’t from the fight—it was from sheer rage.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked, dazed, but as soon as I saw the look on his face, I took a few steps back as he approached like a predator.
I stumbled, but this time over my own feet, and before I could fall, Zion grabbed me by the elbow—which was a terrible move. Not only did it make my abdomen hurt worse, but we were close enough for him to catch my scent. His nostrils flared immediately.
“Why does your body carry the scent of Hiro Zois and Aish Zuri?”
My eyes widened. He could smell others on my skin? It made me wonder just how keen fae males’ sense of smell was. I tugged my arm, trying to break free, and took a deep breath, organizing the thoughts running wild in my mind.
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
A low growl rumbled from his throat, so raw and primitive it made me shudder.
“What did you do with the attackers?” I asked, my legs wobbly.
I was in shock and still couldn’t believe my own eyes. I couldn’t process that Zion had saved me and taken out five men in less than two minutes. It should have been impossible, but there we were: me alive, him furious.
“If your question is whether I killed them, the answer is no. They’re all in prison. They’ll answer for the crimes they committed against half-breeds, and maybe I can track down more of the group through them.”
They were exterminating people like me—normal people whose only crime was being born from a different bloodline.
I stared at the man in front of me, unable to stop the memories of the images he’d shown me during our fight in the gymnasium.
He was no better than those people. The only difference was that I was his partner—but what if I weren’t?
What ditch would he have buried me in? Still, in that moment, I felt grateful.
But I wouldn’t admit it, not when he looked at me like that, as if he wanted to drag me by the hair and lock me in a cage.
It was confusing. Dealing with Zion was more confusing than navigating a maze blindfolded.
“Great. I hope they pay,” I muttered, losing my balance again. This time he sighed, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
Faster than my alcohol-blurred eyes could follow, his arms wrapped around me—one behind my back, the other behind my knees.
He pulled me to his chest and shadows exploded around me.
The world was swallowed by darkness, and a few seconds later, we emerged into the shadow of the inner wall, then into the shadow of a building, and then we were inside the house.
When we arrived in the living room, the protection barrier flared blue, recognizing our presence.
Zion set me down carefully. My stomach was waging a battle with my head to see which could spin faster.
My stomach won, and I looked around urgently for any place to dump the contents rising up my throat.
Zion disappeared and returned with a bucket in the blink of an eye.
“Here.” He thrust it toward me, scowling.
Shame burned across my face as I made horrible sounds and emptied everything into the bucket.
Zion held my hair back, and I wanted to ask him to move away, but I couldn’t even catch my breath enough to stay standing.
When I finally finished vomiting, I lifted my face, mortified, and took everything to the bathroom near the reading room, dumping the contents into the toilet.
I avoided looking in the mirror as I washed my hands and rinsed my mouth.
When I returned to the living room, feeling defeated and filthy, I noticed he was still in the same spot, studying me intently.
I threw my hair back and raised my hands in surrender.
“Yeah, I know! Tonight isn’t exactly my finest moment.”
I could imagine exactly what he was seeing: a barefoot girl, covered in mud and reeking of vomit. Not even the dress in all its glory could salvage the situation.
“Funny thing to say after watching your little moments with Hiro and Aish.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, but then I caught what he’d said.
“Wait, what do you mean ‘after watching’?”
Some of his fury eased when he heard the question. Then he went quiet, which was answer enough.
My whole body started trembling with rage and indignation.
“You were spying on me?!” I shouted in his face. I thought about how the bond had gone haywire and how it had felt like something was pounding at the back of my mind. “That was you messing with me! I can’t believe you did that!”
“And you should thank the gods I was watching! Otherwise your name would just be another statistic in the murdered descendants column.”
I felt my blood pounding in my temples as I realized he truly believed what he was saying.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “You were spying on me through the bond! How many times have you done this? How many times have you monitored my life from a distance while I didn’t even know if you were alive?”
“Just this once.”
“Liar!”
“I’m many things, but a liar isn’t one of them,” he replied coldly. “It’s funny that you’re not angry at the men who wanted to kill you. But me looking through the bond? Wow! Unforgivable. Where are your priorities, Kyller?”
“Priorities like ‘you having access to my thoughts’?”
“Priorities like ‘your safety’! You were reckless letting yourself drink and become vulnerable outside the inner walls. I thought you were smarter than that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him with every ounce of indignation I felt.
“Wait! Are you seriously lecturing me for being a normal person for one single day of my life?”
I was so furious with him I couldn’t even stand still.
“No. I’m lecturing you for deliberately putting yourself at risk. No one’s judging you for going to a party or leaving the wall—but for drinking, losing control, grinding on people you don’t even know. You couldn’t even defend yourself in a fight because you couldn’t stay on your feet.”
“And isn’t that the same thing? You’re judging me for being normal—normal like every other student.”
“You’re not a normal student and you know it,” he snapped, crossing his arms.
“Really? By the gods, how come no one ever told me? Without you I never would have discovered that my hair and eyes are the wrong color,” I shot back with a mocking laugh.
To hell with manners—I was tired of that holier-than-thou expression.
I remembered the question that had been hammering at my mind.
“And speaking of no one telling me anything, why didn’t you tell me you’re also a descendant? ”
He seemed to falter. For the first time in my life, Zion Voluz faltered right before my eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re a half-breed. Just like me.” The words came out easily, as if my brain had already accepted them as absolute truth.
“I think you really did drink too much.”
“Oh! Are you going to play dumb now? I heard you, Zion! You said that if they wanted to have fun with a descendant, they should have fun with you.”
“I didn’t…”
“Are you really going to lie to me? Seriously? You’re going to contradict yourself right after claiming you don’t lie? Maybe I’ll start thinking you actually are a liar—even when you tell me you’re not.”
He didn’t respond, just stared at me. I studied his eyes, the blue with hints of green. Today they were bluer, masking the greenish spots. But they were there—they had always been there.
“You definitely don’t know what you’re talking about.” His posture went rigid again.
I huffed, disgusted with the man.
“Don’t you ever get tired of being a pain in the ass?”