Page 272 of Halfblood Deceived

His eyes were bloodshot and surrounded by dark circles. He looked as exhausted as Aella felt and more incensed than she had ever seen him. It made her nervous, she couldn’t deny it, but she wouldn’t cower.

“If you don’t behave, I will hex you out of the room, Zeydan,” Mari warned.

He didn’t acknowledge her threat. Nor did he seem to care that Kamilla and Diana were giving him warning looks.

“I would have done it without his help or Aylana’s and Evan’s,” Aella answered. “I needed to clear my sister’s name. I would do it all over again. It was worth it.”

“You took an unnecessary risk,” Zeydan remarked, voice arctic and teeth clenched. “You could have waited for me or Kamilla. You could have explained things to us and we would have helped you—”

“Not without trying to keep me safe at the expense of not getting the evidence I needed,” Aella argued.

“You don’t know that,” Zeydan growled.

“You are confirming it,” Aella pointed out.

“You’re doing this now?” Mari demanded. “Seriously? How about saying, ‘I’m glad you’re alive, Aella,’ and leave it at that?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Diana said, her voice low and tight with anger.

Zeydan swallowed hard. The rage in his eyes wasn’t gone, but it was shot through with anguish. “I’m glad you are alive, Aella.”

“Thank you, Zeydan,” Aella responded. “So am I.”

“Are you?” he asked in a low tone that didn’t bode well.

Aella’s chest tightened unpleasantly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He took a step closer, but still kept his distance from the bed. “It means I’ve had some time to think about what you did—”

Aella let out a short breath. “You are making it sound as if I’ve committed a crime—”

Zeydan pressed on. “And I think I have a pretty good idea of why you didn’t hesitate to do something so fucking reckless.”

Aella was distantly aware of the faster beeping of the machine. “You don’t need to get any ideas. I’ve already given my reasons—”

He huffed ruefully. “But not all of them. I don’t think so.”

“That’s quite enough,” Kamilla said to Zeydan. “Get out—”

“No,” Aella interrupted. “Let him explain my own thoughts and choices to myself. I’m curious.” She met his gaze head-on even as her eyes prickled and her hands shook. “Go ahead. Enlighten me.”

He gritted his teeth. “You sacrificed yourself like a lamb for slaughter because you still don’t value your own life. You almost died for Aiko. You almost died for Mari, Luce, and Gabby. Hells, you took two bullets for Reese. You would stand from that bed and get torn to pieces for any of us right now because you don’t give a fuck about yourself. You let yourself be kidnaped, beaten, and almost—” He breathed hard, turning even paler “—abused, and almost killed again because you love your sister but not yourself.”

Aella felt as if all the air had been sucked from her lungs.

The tears she’d been trying to hold at bay spilled hot and uncomfortable down her cold cheeks.

“You bastard,” Mari growled, getting to her feet, but Diana was faster.

She turned into a blur and clocked Zeydan in the face.

His head jerked to the side, and his lip bled, but he didn’t even flinch. His eyes returned to Aella. The rage had mostly gone, leaving behind remorse and raw pain.

Diana shoved him. “Get out!”

Zeydan barely moved, and even with the pain spreading like broken glass inside her chest, Aella noticed he was much stronger than she had believed.

She wanted to deny it. She wanted to refute what Zeydan had said. But icy recognition ran through her veins, and she realized she couldn’t. Thoughts and feelings that Aella had buried in the darkest corner of her mind crawled up and dug invisible claws into her heart.

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