A Court of Light and Shadow

Chapter 21

PART 2

THE HEIRESS

The shapes and whorls of carved stone adorned the walls. Making the place seem more lighthearted than it truly was. I had to get out of that place. To get away.

I needed to breathe.

But he was still here. His body was, but not his soul.

Hitori had died, because the guards who held him saw fit. They didn't deserve to live. But Hitori didn't deserve to die alone.

He needed me, as much as I still need him.

My hand traced the sigil of a crown, still on his chest. The mark of my mother. The female who had laid claim on this male. My fingers, and palms, were stained with his blood. The red.

A mark of betrayal, born by the hands of my mother's men.

No.

No. I could no longer call her my mother.

She did not deserve a title as important as that. She may be blood. But she wasn't my mother. Not anymore.

A whisper of a smile tugged the corner of my lips up as my thumb caressed his cheek ever so gently. It had been so sudden. Azriel had fallen in, killed those who tried to hurt me.

But they hurt him instead. They hurt Hitori.

They killed my Captain.

"You mustn't be upset." A deep voice said, so calm it didn't even startle me. So gentle, I believed it to be in my head.

"Why mustn't I?" I asked, "They killed him. He didn't deserve to die."

"Maybe not." The voice said back, "But is he really gone?"

I frowned at its words, "What is it you mean?" I asked. My eyes never left his face. That pale, sad face. Riddled in pain, even in death.

"Feel, Amaya." The voice said. "All you need, is to feel."

Though to feel, meant I had to embrace the truth. The hard truth.

Hitori was dead. He's dead.

"I can't." I answered, shaking my head in defeat.

"You can." It answered, "Feel."

Feel. All I had to do was feel.

My fingers splayed on his chest, one hand moving to cup his cold cheek. The both of us stained in red. And the cold, the cold of his cheek.

It hit me.

Hitori Caldwell had died on my watch. He had been murdered by my mother's men and I had done nothing to protect the now cold body of this male below me.

My chest ached, my body shaking as the first sob escaped my lips. My eyes welling with tears, and my mind went numb to anything and everything around me.

Everything, except for that voice.

"Pour that emotion into him, princess." It told me. Nearly begging me.