Page 149 of This Monster of Mine

She nodded, fighting back tears, and had the horror of seeing him crumple, head bowed.

Look up, she wanted to plead.This is not the vengeance I wanted.

The Aequitas was utter chaos. The crowd’s outraged protests, Cassandane shielding herself from Aelius’s barrage of attacks. Amid it all, Anek darted from the dais.

With a strained groan, Kadra widened his shield, creating an opening. Anek slipped in and gripped Sarai’s head.

“Materialize it,” she whispered. “Let them see all of it.”

Over Aelius’s roar, Anek plunged into her mind, brow creasing with strain as they sifted through Sarai’s memories until they found the newly recovered threads from the night of the convivium.

Cisuré’s and Tullus’s figures formed onstage, the transparent contours of memory untouched by Aelius’s attacks. The crowd barely breathed asthey beheld the ballroom. They roared their outrage when Tullus drugged her, and fell silent hearing the scheme she’d witnessed in the closet. As the Fall played out. And as the man who’d ordered that she be given a new face came and went.

There was utter silence when the silhouettes vanished.

Then, a wave of people rose, screaming, howling, cursing as they surged over the railings onto the lower tiers, thousands descending from all corners of the Aequitas. The crowds stormed the stage, heading for a frozen Aelius, whose vigiles fought them off. White-faced, Anek let go of Sarai’s head, looking close to retching. On the dais, Cisuré stared at Aelius as if she’d never seen him before.

For a moment, Sarai almost pitied her, in spite of all the damage she had done. But it was only for a moment. Steeling herself, she glanced to her left and saw Kadra staring at the ground, eyes blank. Her lips parted, though she could barely conceive of what to say, when metal crashed to the ground behind her. She jumped aside as another broken railing hit the ground. Several enraged citizens hefted it, throwing it into the wall of Aelius’s vigiles. Edessa was baying for his blood.

Kadra’s head whipped up. He bit back a curse seconds before the shield around Sarai flared to extend across the mob in a stunning sweep of gold, right as Aelius seemed to recover. Then everything happened at once.

Cisuré screamed Aelius’s name. Cassandane yelled for her vigiles to assist her. Aelius’s hands dropped to the sword at his hip while he shot forth a bolt of lightning at Sarai, nearly searing her vision. And she knew what was going to happen before it did.

“Kadra!”

Aelius’s second bolt snapped against the shield in a burst of light, seconds before his blade buried itself in Kadra’s chest.

The shield quivered as she dropped to her knees. It trembled as a sound of raw agony left Kadra’s throat. But it held until Aelius’s attack wasabsorbed before vanishing, leaving only the man on his knees before her. Head bowed. A blade through his chest.

No. She shook her head.This isn’t happening.

“Sarai, we need to get out of here.” Anek had recovered their composure. “Come! Before Aelius strikes again!”

The man in question folded his arms as horrified silence fell in the Aequitas.

“Looks like your champion is dead.” Wiping a trail of sweat from his brow, Aelius cast an inquiring glance at the people who’d so eagerly mobbed the stage and now cowered away from him. “Really, what harm did I do to you in asking you to trust the gods? If anything, I enriched your lives. I deserve to be formalized as a Saint for that alone.”

“Aelius,” Cassandane began, only for a serrated blade of lightning to slam into her shoulder. The older Tetrarch gritted her teeth in pain, but a translucent shield of crimson lightning flared to life with a flick of her wrist, encircling Sarai, Anek, and the crowd. “That’s enough.”

Aelius gave her a dismissive glance. “You can’t take me, Cassandane.” He looked out at the crowd. “Wipe out the lot of them, blame Kadra, and life goes on.”

They were going to die. Like Tullus and K—

No. He’s just injured. Nothing you can’t heal.

Uncaring of what was happening around her, she crouched before him and stroked his cheek.

“I healed you once. I can do it again.” She felt for his pulse. Waiting.

Waiting.

Can’t feel his pulse if you’re shaking, she reminded herself. “I’ll have to remove the blade first. So—”

“Sarai, stop.” Hands gripped her shoulders, gently pulling her away. She struggled against the hold, but it only tightened.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Anek’s voice trembled, features tormented. “He’s gone.”

“He’snotgone! He needs a healer. I can help!”

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