Page 18 of Aria's Ascension

Speaking softly, calmly, he murmured, “I can feel your rage. This is not you, my song. You must push it back, control it. You are no longer just the Assassin. Do not let it overpower you.”

It took a long minute of him repeating himself before her wrathful trembling slowed and finally stopped. He was right. That wasn’t her.

Taking a few deep breaths, she concentrated on pushing that other part back to the depths of her mind. She focused on the mission, on her men, on helping these people. Bit by bit, the rage lessened and the need for vengeance dissipated.

“Fuck,” she breathed, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head. Gazing back up at him, she gave him troubled eyes. “I lost control.”

“I know,aessa. You are back, now. That is all that matters,” he whispered reassuringly, softly sweeping her hair off of her face before tracing the line of her cheekbone with his fingertips.

Her frown deepened. He didn’t understand. “I wanted to hurt people, Kix. And it didn’t matter who. Slaves, guards. They all felt like threats. What if that happens again and I can’t get myself back under control?” she asked worriedly.

“It will not.”

He said it with such surety, his beautiful, blue gaze unwavering as he stared at her, but Aria wasn’t anywhere near as confident. That other part was strong.

“Butwhat if, Kix? What if that other part takes over when—?”

Tirox came up beside them and cut her off. “Other part?”

Shaking his head, he gently but quickly wrapped a torn strip of spray-paint fabric around the wound on her shoulder to stem the bleeding then lifted her out of Kix’s arms and brought her to his chest.

Aria cocked a brow at them handling her like a doll, but let it go. Having them hold her close was comforting, and she needed some of that, much as she disliked admitting, even to herself, that she needed reassurance.

At that moment it clicked that they were taking the time to reassure her. She’d been so preoccupied with her own shit, she hadn’t even thought to check and make sure they’d taken care of the other guard and the ant.

Scanning the room, she found both guards dead and the ant unconscious on the floor behind the stasis tube. Aria grit her teeth and mentally berated herself. It was one thing to trust her men to have her back. It was an entirely different thing to lose focus to the point where she forgot to check for other threats.

Goddamnit! A fucking rookie wouldn’t even make that kind of mistake.

Tirox brought her gaze back to him with a finger under her chin and stared down at her seriously. “There is noother part. There is only you. I do not believe their magic is strong enough to put traits into our spirits that were not already there. Vhraress is still you, just as Zvikah—barbarian—is me. It always was. Trying to separate it, to believe it isotherand bury it, will not work. You do not carry the burden of the deaths you dealt, but you dealt them still, my heart. You must accept that.”

Denial immediately tightened her stomach. “No.No. That would meanIkilled those people, Tirox. Not some homicidal, animalistic creature they created inside me. I can’t accept that.”

“We are all light and dark, my mate. We are all animals with a skill and taste for violence. When our awareness is trapped, so, too, is the balance within us and our choice to temper those instincts with honor and compassion. But, that does not make them any less ours.”

Aria understood what he was saying and couldn’t deny it made sense, but she also couldn’t accept it. Regardless of what he said, if that dark part was and always had been hers, then shewasresponsible for all the people she’d hurt and killed.

Swallowing hard, she clipped, “We don’t have time for this. We need to go. It’s been at least five minutes. The alarm should’ve sounded already.”

With that, she let go of him and dropped to the ground.

Tirox sighed. She could feel his eyes boring a hole into the top of her head, but after a pause, he turned and walked back to the guard she’d butchered without another word.

Aria assumed he was going to take the crocodile guard’s weapon and frowned when he bypassed it. Instead, he flipped the guy over onto his stomach. That was when she realized what made the thunk she’d heard when the asshole had his fangs buried in her shoulder.

“Wait.Youkilled him?” That darkness growled from within its cage, peeved he’d stolen her kill. “You didn’t need to do that. I had him.”

Tirox didn’t even blink at the affronted tone she couldn’t quite keep out of her voice, just peeked at her as he yanked his ax out of the guard’s back and nodded agreeably before murmuring, “Of course, my heart. I was just being overly cautious.”

Aria narrowed her eyes, but he sounded genuine, and the dark part was appeased. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead.

Fuck’s sake. Get yourself together, Aria. We don’t have time for this shit.

Chapter 11

Aria and Tirox stripped the dead guards of their weapons while Kix inputted the code to open the stasis tube. She heard him calling Skaa’s name and turned to watch him trying to shake her awake before he apparently gave up and lifted her out of the tube, slinging her limp, naked body over his shoulder.

“You don’t know how to wake her up?” Aria asked over her shoulder as she made her way to the door, Godzilla’s gun gripped in her hand.

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