Chapter 28 #2
I don’t question him because I know my father was telling me the truth. He chuckles, humorlessly, stepping forward.
“I did what was necessary.” He shrugs.
“You raped her!” My voice comes out louder than I anticipated, broken with something I'll never get back.
He tsk and tilts his head. “She was too beautiful to go to waste.”
I want to stab him, just for uttering those words about her. I want him dead. Tears rest on my bottom lids, threatening to spill any second. He doesn’t regret anything, all those lives alongside my mother that were lost, weren’t even mourned properly.
“All those people, the mill, you did it all,” I whisper.
He nods. “Once again, necessary.”
The lightbulb buzzes behind me and I hear Alistair’s feet shift, but my eyes never leave the man in front of me.
“Why?” I demand. “Why couldn’t you let her go with her life?”
“They all knew too much, maybe if they behaved and abided by our mission it wouldn’t have ended so badly. Your mother…that was just to get back at your father.” He steps close. “Blame him.”
Each word lands like a nail is being pushed into my skin; hard, sharp, painful. I want to scream at him, to cry but he steps closer and I step back, my spine brushing the cold stone.
Out of the corner of my eye I search for Kian, my mind betraying everything I ever built in need of him but the space he occupied is empty. My heart surges forward, hot in my chest, and the knife Clandic holds glints dangerously close.
Alistair moves before I can stop him, he lunges at Clandic with a shout.
“No!” The words tear out of my throat.
His fist never connects, the man smoothly turns and drives the pummel of the knife into his temple. His body moving with skill as if he’s done this a million times before. The sound is sickening to my ears and a loud whimper leaves my lips. Alistair crumbles to the ground, his body going languid.
Is he dead? A groan leaves his lips but he makes no attempt to get up.
“Alistair.” I cry, my eyes blurring.
It was never supposed to happen this way. We were supposed to get him unstabilized and call the constables to arrest him.
Anger clouds my vision and I strike forward with the knife. I slash wildly, not practiced or controlled, until I feel it sink into flesh. The knife slices through his shoulder and his gaze snaps to me. His expression bewildered as he looks down at the blood pooling from him.
“You floozy bitch.” His hand shoots out, grabbing the knife from my grip.
Suddenly it dawns on me that I’ll die here and now. Kian is gone, Alistair is knocked out or dead. I cry out, anger fueling me as I draw back. My fist hits the knife out of his hand and I keep going.
He chuckles and I feel utterly embarrassed as white clouds my vision as I go into a hysterical state.
“She screamed just like you.” He snarls, his tone mocking. “She thought loving you would keep her alive.”
I choke out a sob, gripping dust and stone, reaching for anything that might help.
“She died knowing she failed.” His hand lifts, his fist curled. “Just like you—”
His words cut off with a strangled gasp, the sound of something sharp slicing through flesh is the only thing I hear.
A knife bursts through his throat from behind, the tip just inches from my face and covered in dripping blood.
His eyes go wide with disbelief as he tries to breathe in, but all I hear are the gurgles of his blood drowning him. Blood trails down the front of his coat, some splattered across my face and throat.
He collapses forward and the knife slowly emerges from him. He falls on top of me before he's shoved aggressively to the side, his body hitting the floor with a wet thud.
Kian’s gaze meets my horrified one, his eyes are dark, bottomless, lit with something intense—something close to reverent and sadistic.
I frown, my lip wobbling as I feel the hot substance trail down my body. While he remains untouched, his white v-neck is immaculately clean. Every splatter is on me; soaking my face, my collar, and my hands tremble in front of me like they belong to someone else.
I feel sick but also safe. He steps closer but I can’t move, my body frozen with fear. I inhale sharply expecting to be drowned in the scent of iron but all I smell is him—clean, cold. His dark gaze settles on me with so much intensity I don’t feel the blood on me anymore.
Shock trickles through me but Kian lingers in my mind. I don’t know what madness takes over me at that moment but all I want to do is curl into his arms and forget everything.
“You’re ok.” His voice is distant to my ears and I nod.
No.
My gaze slips past him to the other body on the ground. Alistair still lays there, unmoving, his face turned away from me. The safety I had begun to feel vanishes and a panicked fear spreads through me.
“Oh my God, we have to help him.” I push away from Kian, tripping over his foot as I go.
My knees hit the stone hard but I don’t care. I crawl to Alistair, my hands shaking as I pull his head in my lap.
“Be careful,” Kian whispers, rushing to my side.
My hands push at Alistair's chest, my eyes ablaze, my fingers trembling. There's so little strength left in me and I can’t think straight enough to help him.
“Please Kian,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Help him.”
My vision begins to blur and the cave spins. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, so loud, so fast.
The dangling light smears into one long yellow line and the blood on my body suddenly feels heavy, like it’s dragging me down.
“Sylvia!” I hear someone yell but become confused who it belongs to.
My head falls back and hands wrap around my waist.
“Please don’t die.” Those are the last words I hear before it goes dark.
The cave swims in my vision, blurring into one pile of stone. The last thing I feel is the weight of everything finally pressing in; fear, relief, truth.
My mother’s killer is dead.