Imperial Moon [Complete]

Chapter Thirty - Crown

The world stilled. The air thickened, moving through her lungs like water, choking her. The scene in front of her shimmered and warped, as though her brain would not compute the horror.

THUD.

It echoed in her head. 

Thud, thud, thud. 

The sound of him hitting the earth.

He didn't move. He lay, twisted, the huge blade propping him up like a sick, discarded toy. 

Kat was aware of sounds around her. They throbbed in her eardrums. Her hearing was muffled, the pressure in her ears too intense to withstand. She felt as though her head might explode. 

She felt her soul tear, as it slowly came undone. Her throat was aflame, the mark burning a hole in her neck. She saw it all, she felt it all, but she absorbed none of it. She was broken, half of herself gone, forever. 

Fingers snapped in front her her face. Kat focussed, her surroundings sharpening, her hearing coming back with a POP.

Her brother grinned down at her.

"Is it bad? Kat? The feeling when your love dies?"

She stared at him, blankly. She was unfeeling. His smile widened.

"Are you still in there, sister?" he whispered, tapping her forehead.

Kat didn't know. She looked at Cal and sob caught in her throat as tears filled her eyes. She closed her eyes and begged the Moon to help her. She reached out across the bond to him, to find nothing.

It was like standing on the edge of a cliff at midnight. The Moon has left her. She calls out to her love but he has gone. She tries to jump, to join him. She cannot.

"How long until we kill her, too?" Konan mumbled to Tate, as though Kat didn't exist.

"I don't know." Tate's voice was different. Hard and unforgiving.

Katja squeezed her eyes tighter, bright spots popping under her eyelids.

"How long have you been feeding them the poison?" Konan was irritated. Kat was surprised she could feel it.

"Since she was tortured. I collected her blood from the hospital, as instructed." Tate could have been discussing the weather.

"It should have broken her more. At this point my father could barely stand." Kat opened her eyes to scowl at her brother. He wasn't looking at her. He was frowning at Cal's corpse.

Kat turned to Tate.

"Why?" she rasped, pain twisting her vocal chords.

Tate's face flickered with anguish, before becoming a mask of hatred.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"YES YOU FUCKING DO!" 

Kat turned her head sharply, finding the source of the voice. Vilkas writhed under thick silver chains. Behind him, Blaez was chained to a tree. He leaned his head against the bark, eyes closed. He could almost be asleep.

Tate growled at Vilkas.

"Shut your mouth." he snapped.

"Something is wrong." Konan interrupted.

"I did everything, everything you commanded, Alpha." Tate kneeled before Konan, bowing his head in respect. Kat felt his fear soak the ground. She frowned at her former First-Beta, it was unusual for him to feel such fear.