ravaged hearts

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE,

RAVAGED HEARTS | CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  "OVER HERE!" LOUIS yelled when he heard the footsteps.

He stood in the caverns. Where two corpses laid. Io was kneeling in front of one of them in shock. It wasn't the first time he'd seen someone in this kind of state. She was processing. He hadn't processed it either, but considering it wasn't his father who'd just died due to a knife meant for him, he decided to be the responsible one in their duo.

Seo was unconscious on the ground. He'd probably lost too much blood, and Louis had given him some hazardously tied on bandages to both himself and Seo to stop the bleeding before returning to Io.

He didn't say anything, just knelt beside her.

A moment later, Rhys, Castrillo and a group of three other agents walked in. Their eyes snapped to Io's form, and the crumbled body next to hers. Rhys' mouth turned into an 'o'.

Louis gave a grim nod.

Io still said nothing. She didn't even raise her head to greet the others. She just kept her eyes on the ground in front of her, confusion and blankness in her eyes. He'd never seen this kind of expression in her before. He was scared.

He'd only just gotten her back.

While the others dealt with the bodies, Rhys crouched down next to Io, who watched as her father's body was carefully taken away. The tunnel should just be wide enough to carry them out, though it'll take a while. Rhys asked, "Io?"

Io said, so softly he barely heard, "He died for me."

Rhys whispered in a feather-light tone, "What happened?"

"He took a knife for me."

Rhys turned to him for confirmation, question in her eyes. Louis gave a quick nod and then slowly let his arm wrap around Io's shoulders. She let him, slowly lowering her head on his shoulders. She swallowed. "He died for me. Why did he do that?"

"I don't know," Louis replied. But he did know. Because with all the fucked up shit the prince had done, he cared for his blood. He cared for Io. She was his daughter. And in his own twisted, evil little way, he loved her above his love for himself. It was the only reason she'd been kept alive, because without the prince's perverted kind of protection Io would have died at the hands of Voronin and Seo long ago. On some levels, her survival was due solely to her father's insistence.

He wasn't sure what he thought about that. And he knew Io knew exactly why he'd done it too—but it'd take a while to sink in. Time she had.

He'd take care of her until then.

Rhys gave him a firm nod. It was approval and trust and a promise. Permission for him to care for her until she returned to her senses, snapped out of shot. Across the room, Castrillo walked over, placed her hands on Io's which were laid on her lap and said, "I'm sorry, Io. I know you hated him. But I'm still sorry."

Constanza Castrillo had lost her own father during the Meliquean war. He'd been one of the casualties of Contreras' Terror, the purging of anyone who'd been any kind of threat to Caba's administration.

Io just gave a nod in return. Castrillo turned to look at him. She raised one brow. But nodded as well.

Louis tilted his head slightly in response. He didn't need her acceptance. Or Rhys' for that matter. All he needed was Io's.

He turned down to face her as the two other women walked away and said, "Let's get you out of here, yeah? Back to the inn? We'll get you cleaned up. You can say your final goodbyes if you want."