Chapter 245
KATYA POV
Blood kept spilling from Lila’s mouth. My stomach lurched. My throat closed. My hands went cold, then numb, like they no longer belonged to .
I could feel Lila shaking—small, uncontrollable tremors—but I couldn’t feel myself at all. Not properly. This was too much. Too fast. Too wrong.
I lifted my gaze again, and this ti I couldn’t pretend. Roo.
He stood there like the room belonged to him. Like the fear choking the air didn’t touch him. Like the blood—on his hand, on his cheek, splattered across the floor—was nothing more than an inconvenience.
Why is there so much blood?
Why doesn’t he look shocked?
Why isn’t he asking what happened?
Why.....
The answer hit all at once, sharp and nauseating.
Because he already knew.
Because he didn’t need to ask.
Because he’d been there when it happened.
Because he was the one who did it.
But why?
My breath stuttered. A tallic taste flooded my mouth as panic surged, my vision blurring at the edges. I pressed my hand harder into the mattress behind just to stay upright.
No.
No, no, no.
I shook my head slightly—a useless, desperate gesture, like I could dislodge the thought before it rooted itself too deeply.
Did she deserve it? No. No one deserved this. Was this about Adelasia? The na echoed like a curse. Had Roo done this... for ?
The thought made my stomach churn. It was too much. My hands shook as I tried to hold her, tried to keep her upright even though my arms felt weak—useless.
Every instinct scread at to pull away, to escape the sll of iron and fear and sothing broken beyond fixing. But she was clinging to , her fingers locked into my clothes like I was the last solid thing left in a world that had already ended.
"Stop—please—stop," I whispered. I didn’t know who I was begging. Her. The blood. God. Nonna sat nearby, just as still—locked in a silent shock, her face pale and rigid.
Lila convulsed again, her grip tightening as she tried desperately to bury her face against , her body folding inward like she was trying to disappear into my ribs.
The thought surfaced before I could stop it, and it horrified .
I don’t want this. I didn’t want the blood. I didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t want to be the thing she clung to while he stood right there.
But my arms refused to let go.
Instead, I held her tighter, my heart hamring so hard it made dizzy. Every instinct scread that I was in danger. That I was next. That the only reason I was still breathing was because I hadn’t crossed whatever invisible line she had.
Yet. My eyes flicked back to Roo, and this ti the fear fully blood.
He didn’t look like a man anymore. He looked like sothing older. Colder. Like the stories Nonna used to tell in half-whispers—about devils who didn’t need fire or horns because their power was quieter than that.
Because they didn’t need to threaten.
They only needed to decide.And he had decided Lila’s fate.
My mind spiraled, grasping for logic, for reason—anything that made this less monstrous.
"Is that how you beg for rcy?"
The words didn’t register at first. They hovered in the air between us, cold and precise, like they’d been chosen carefully rather than spoken on impulse.
My body flinched before my mind caught up. The movent made Lila whimper again, her fingers tightening painfully in my clothes.
Beg.
For rcy.
From who?
I stared at Roo, my thoughts colliding. The sentence didn’t fit reality. Lila wasn’t begging—she couldn’t beg. She couldn’t even speak.
And yet he said it like that was exactly what she was doing.
Like he’d decided it for her. Roo took a step forward.
Just one. The soft sound of his shoe against the floor landed in my chest. Lila reacted instantly—her body seizing, a strangled sound ripping from her throat as fresh blood spilled over her lips.
I gasped and pulled her closer without thinking, my arms tightening around her shoulders as if that could protect her from him.
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might betray . Roo’s gaze flicked to the movent—to my arms around her.
Sothing unreadable crossed his face.
"She had a sharp tongue," he said calmly, almost conversationally, like we were discussing a flaw in a broken object. "A reckless one."
My stomach dropped.
"She liked to use it," he continued, eyes never leaving Lila. "Liked to throw words without thinking about where they landed."
His gaze lifted—slowly—to .
"So people forget that words have consequences, don’t they, Katya?"
I shook my head, small and frantic. "Stop," I whispered. "Please—just stop."
He didn’t.
"Useless, really," Roo went on, voice smooth, controlled. "All that noise. All that poison." His mouth curved slightly—not quite a smile. "She won’t be needing it anymore."
My ears rang.
I couldn’t breathe. Horror rolled through in heavy waves. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t shouting. He wasn’t trying to justify himself.
That was worse.
"You—" My voice broke. I swallowed hard, forcing the word out. "You did this." It wasn’t an accusation. It was a realization.
He didn’t deny it. Instead, he took another step into the room. Lila sobbed—a broken, awful sound—and tried to crawl backward, her body dragging uselessly against mine. Her grip tightened again, desperate and shaking.
Roo’s eyes followed the movent. Then he said, softly and deliberately, "Her life is in your hands now."
My heart stuttered.
"What?" The word barely escaped.
He gestured subtly toward Lila—the blood, the shaking, the uneven breaths. "If she lives," he said, "it’s because you decide she does."
I shook my head harder. "I don’t understand. I don’t want— I didn’t ask for this."
"If you want her gone," he continued calmly, "it would be done. Cleanly. She wouldn’t say another word."
My vision blurred. The room felt like it was closing in, the walls inching closer with every heartbeat.
"And if you don’t," he added, eyes locking onto mine, "she lives. But she’ll never speak again."
I felt sick. My chest burned—tight and hollow all at once. Tears spilled despite my effort to stop them.
"No," I whispered. "I don’t want that. I don’t want anyone to die. I don’t—" Lila made a sound then, frantic and broken, her head shaking wildly as if she was trying to agree with . Her eyes were fixed on my face, shining with terror and sothing else.
Hope.
That was worse. My heart started racing so fast it hurt. My thoughts spiraled, crashing into mories I didn’t want.
Anywhere you go, you always bring death with you.
Lila’s words from earlier echoed in my head, sharp and cruel and suddenly unbearable.
Adelasia. The kitchen. The eyes.
The way everyone looked at afterward, like I was standing too close to sothing rotten.
This happening because of . The guilt hit hard and fast, crushing the air from my lungs.
I didn’t want to be this.
I didn’t want to be the reason soone else died. I didn’t want blood on my hands, even if I never touched the knife. Even if I never gave the order.
I looked down at Lila, at her broken mouth, her trembling body, her fingers clutching like I was salvation.
"I’m sorry," I whispered, voice shaking. "I don’t want this, I didn’t do this please, please I don’t want to be the reason she dies."
††
Bonus Chapter 1
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