Chapter 19
Ablast of emotions rocks me, coming from Saskia herself.
First is shock, so swift and powerful that I almost collapse alongside her.
This brutality wasn’t committed in secret, not behind the walls of the palace, but out in the open, in front of the very place that people go to be healed. It’s a mockery and a warning and a threat all wrapped in one—the last piece of this facade of a utopia peeling away.
Revealing the true nature of Xantera for everyone to see.
“No,” Saskia cries again, and then her grief—and mine, too—hit me square in the chest. You don’t have to be a healer to know that Claudia is dead.
Through Saskia’s eyes, I can see dark, dried blood caking the rope hanging her up, soaked into the woven fibers and staining them a deep, almost black, red.
It’s all my fault, Saskia thinks in horror. If I hadn’t asked her to broadcast incriminating videos to all of Xantera…
It’s nobody’s fault but the one who took her life, I cut her off, pacing along the Wall and wishing for the thousandth time I could kick it in.
This time, not for revenge. This time, I just want to comfort, to be there for her and let her cry into the crook of my neck.
But right now, I’m only a warm presence in this chilling reality. I’m sorry, I whisper.
Saskia heaves out her own, “I’m sorry,” but it’s not directed at me. The pain cracks through her chest, the regret pricking her like a thousand needles.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” is all she can manage to get out as it echoes through the night back into our connection. Lucan… do you think Eleni’s okay? She helped Claudia get to that tech room. What if she got caught, too?
I can’t answer that despite how much I wish I could.
And that’s when anger explodes out of Saskia, stacking on top of the sadness, one after the other, oscillating back and forth until pure rage wins out.
Rage at the Guardians. Rage at the system. Rage at the lies and deceit and cold-blooded indifference.
Her gears click into place, a shift that slams into me with an overwhelming force—and I know.
I know she’s not just a healer anymore. She’s a healer who is now willing to kill the parasites that killed Claudia. Willing to destroy the vampires that have officially pulled the veil of perfection off of everyone’s eyes with every countermove made against her.
But I see this for what it is—desperation. The Guardians have no other option but to instill fear in the humans. Fear of them, not just me as the Monster.
Problem is, Saskia is no longer human.