Page 87 of Terror at the Gates

“Liam made his arrival. They’re stabilizing him,” said Cassius.

My mouth quivered. “Esther?”

Cassius just shook his head.

I covered my mouth as the first sob bubbled to the surface. Once it started, I couldn’t stop.

I crumpled, and Zahariev followed me to the floor.

***

Esther is gone. Esther is gone.

Esther is gone.

I repeated the words over and over again, waiting for the moment when they would feel real, when I would understand.

That was the problem. I didn’t understand.

How did this happen?

I saw her two days ago. She’d been happy and smiley. She’d baked a fucking cake.

And now she was dead.

“She called me eighteen times,” said Gabriel.

He was in the same spot he’d been in since they’d led usto this fucking suite, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. The only difference now was that he held his phone in his hand.

I sat in a chair, angled away from him, but glanced in his direction when he spoke. I couldn’t look at him for too long, because I felt too many things I didn’t like.

“Eighteen times.” Gabriel’s voice broke.

Where was your fucking phone?I wanted to ask. Instead, I ground my teeth. I wished he wouldn’t talk, at least not about this. As angry as I was with Zahariev, Gabriel was the one who’d decided to leave Esther knowing the risks…though none of us had expected this.

Maybe that was the problem.

We hadn’t prepared for every possibility.

But why the fuck wasthiseven a possibility?

What was the point of a god if he couldn’t save the most virtuous among us?

I didn’t understand.

I just didn’t fucking understand.

There was a knock on the door, and a young nurse entered.

“Mr. De Santis?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, getting to his feet.

“I’m Victoria,” she said.

Her voice was high and too cheerful. It went straight through me, an arrow to the chest. How could anyone be so happy when the brightest light in the world had been snuffed out?

“I’m going to help you prepare to meet your baby boy. If you’ll follow me?”

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