Page 43 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella’s throat ached. Those screams. The girl’s screams. Aiko’s screams. She needed them out of her head.

She wanted to die.

God, please let me die, Aella begged. I can’t hear it anymore. I want to die—

A violent wave of grief, shame, and rage-tainted energy emerged from Aella, hitting them all so hard they backed down.

Mari doubled over. Fey’s empathic powers could be a blessing or a curse, and they were definitely the latter at that moment.

Aella hit her head with all her might, screaming, sobbing, and flailing. “I can’t hear it anymore. I want to die,” she begged. “Please let me die!”

Zeydan shook off his stupor and gripped her wrists, pinning them against the bed to stop her from hurting herself. His stomach turned at the thought of creating new bruises on Aella’s mangled skin.

Aella kicked at the sheet half tangled around her legs, head moving from side to side as she cried and whimpered. “I tried. I tried. I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Please. I’m sorry!” Her eyes were wide but unseeing. The mighty, painful energy leaking out from her made Zeydan shudder.

“Dear Celene,” Lex exhaled, wrapping his arm around Gabby, whose horrified eyes were overflowing with tears.

Evan had gone pale as death. He didn’t seem to be breathing.

Andreas’s brow was furrowed with confusion and abject horror.

“Mari,” Zeydan called desperately.

The fey groaned but straightened and hurried to the counter and rifled through a drawer. With shaky hands, she filled a syringe with light green liquid and approached. “I—she needs to be still.”

Aella was still flailing, almost convulsing. “Please, god. Let me die. Let me die. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” she sobbed, hyperventilating. Her pupils were unnaturally dilated.

Andreas approached, meeting Zeydan’s eyes in silent question.

Zeydan nodded.

Andreas gripped Aella’s right forearm firmly but carefully with one hand, using the other to hold her leg steady right above the knee. He growled low and shook his head. All vampires were empaths too, and it became monumentally amplified by touch.

Zeydan imitated Andreas’s grip with his heart in his throat. His head pulsed with unrelenting pain and he had to grit his teeth not to let out an undignified sound of empathic pain.

Mari lifted the right sleeve of Aella’s blue scrubs and injected her. Almost immediately, Aella’s body relaxed, her breathing became deeper, less labored, and her fingers uncurled. She closed her eyes.

Zeydan and Andreas held her for half a minute more, just to be sure, and then released her.

Andreas moved to the furthest wall, hands opening and closing reflexively.

Zeydan couldn’t move, trapped by the echoes of Aella’s storm of sorrow.

“They killed Tatsuki, Anna, and little Aiko,” Evan murmured, amber eyes glassy with unshed tears.

Zeydan placed his hands on the edge of Aella’s bed so as not to fall to his knees. He’d offered Tatsuki and his family protection and failed him. He should have made them move to the mansion the second he realized the gargoyles had invaded the city. Tatsuki didn’t want to give up his freedom, didn’t want Anna to feel trapped again—something Zeydan was more than familiar with—but gods fucking dammit. He should have used that fucking royal title he hated to order Tatsuki to bring his family to the mansion.

A gentle, if shaky, hand gripped his shoulder. “Don’t do this to yourself, Zeydan,” Gabby advised, voice brittle. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not your fault.”

“I should have dragged his arse here even if he kicked and screamed all the way,” Zeydan gritted out through clenched teeth, eyes burning and chest aching as he remembered them.

Tatsuki was honest to the core and kind, something that made him more than unsuitable for Zeydan’s father’s court and the reason why Zeydan had helped him run away. Tatsuki had found Anna less than two decades ago, broken and alone, and he’d helped her. They were friends for years before they became lovers. And they never expected to have children—they didn’t believe it was remotely possible—but little Aiko had arrived and they had never been happier.

And now they were dead.

No matter what anyone said, Zeydan felt a fresh mountain of guilt landing upon the old one he’d carried for almost a century.

“Aella is right,” Evan said. “We should go.”

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