Page 71 of Revenge of the Forgotten

Marlena looked to them, head held high. “She’ll be back.” Vega’s body disappeared, snatched from Khort’s hold. “Go find her.”

Marlena left them with a puff of black smoke. The water on the floor disappeared, evaporating like the villain of their story had, leaving not a single mark on the room around them—almost like it hadn’t been there at all.

Bridger’s tears mixed with the water dripping from his hair. He slammed his fist into the flooring, shattering the tile and his knuckles. His cry wasn’t from the pain in his hand, but from the hole the size of their realm inside his chest.

Bridger knew from that moment on he would never feel complete again.

The cold toilet seat pulled Bridger back to reality, awakening his senses. He could feel the cool porcelain, could see the light from underneath his bathroom door, could hear the thrum of his heart in his ears, could taste the bile on his tongue, could smell the contents of his stomach in the toilet he’d retched up until his entire body hurt.

Bridger used the tactics he’d learned when being trained by his father for surviving torture. Use your senses to stay alive. He heard the echo of his father’s crisp voice in his head as if he were standing over him in the bathroom.

He hadn’t meant to fall back asleep after receiving word about Halo, but his exhaustion was hard to ignore, and sleep, no matter how restless it was, was hard to fight.

These dreams were his own personal form of torture.

It took a curse that wasn’t even his only a few weeks to begin deconstructing the walls of his mental shield block by block. A shield that had been fortified for forty years.

Each night was a new reminder of all it had taken from him.

Watching Vega’s first death play out inside of his mind would stick with him. Bridger wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to rebuild the walls he’d once had. Waking up this morning felt like that first morning without her.

Hollow.

Bridger spit into the toilet and wiped his mouth across his forearm, flushing one last time before hoisting himself off the cold bathroom floor. He could not let this consume him—he wouldn’t. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, at the sticky sweat on his face. The bags under his eyes were more noticeable than they’d ever been.

Bridger had taken all of his memories of Vega, good and bad, and burned them from his mind, ridding himself of the guilt he felt when he thought of her and the things he had done to her and their friends.

Nothing any of them had been through was easy, and they had all found ways to cope with the misery they felt, but Arlet and Khort had yet to give up on Vega.

Bridger had.

Marlena knew breaking Bridger would be breaking Vega—their relationship had always been more than just love. After the summoning, their bond was unlike anything Bridger had ever felt. He could sense her mood shifts, felt like he could hear her thoughts before she spoke them, and their powers—gods, they were so strong together.

Being tortured by Marlena for two years, locked under the home she’d rebuilt in Aeris, changed him. In some ways, it made him sharper, but in others… he’d never be the same.

Bridger could only imagine what it felt like for Vega to remember everything all at once. At least the rest of them got the time to heal slowly, becoming whatever person it made them along the way.

Sometimes he wondered if she would rather be dead forever than have to do this over and over and over again.

Death could be peaceful.

But Bridger didn’t have the luxury of forgetting, of wishing for death. Today, he had to swallow his pain and hunt down the very woman he’d promised to fight for until the end.

25

The elevator doors opened into his meeting room where Halo was waiting. Bridger’s brows creased. “Do you often find yourself snooping in places you don’t belong just because you’re able to?” The fact he could materialize in and out, wherever it was he wanted to be, set Bridger on edge.

He had to remind himself that no matter how young Halo was, he was still Fraus-born, and just because he was helping at the moment didn’t mean his assistance would be granted in the future.

“Commander!” Halo jumped, hands shooting to his side at Bridger’s intrusion. “I apologize. I was just looking at the map you have here. It’s old.” Halo backed away from the table as Bridger moved closer, putting himself in between the young man and the map.

“Yes, great observation skills.” Bridger smiled, leaning against the table. He folded his hands in front of himself. “It’s been passed down the Dimico line since the beginning of our time. Something no one outside of my inner circle gets to look at.” And it holds secrets I can’t trust you with. Bridger met the young boy’s eyes, watching them grow a little wider as he nodded his head.

“Understood. I didn’t see anything. Promise.” Halo shrugged it off, but Bridger wouldn’t let his guard down. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Commander?” Halo asked, eager to change the subject.

Bridger pushed himself off the table, the map rolled up behind him now. Wind control came in handy in more ways than one.

“I’m just curious about a couple of things.” Bridger stood much taller than Halo, the young boy still growing into himself. “One, why is it you disappeared after dropping us at the portal?”

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