I dropped beside her, my hands trembling as I gathered her small, lifeless body into my arms. The world blurred. My voice broke into a scream that echoed into the emptiness, raw and shattered.
At that very moment, another voice slipped into the communication line—Selindra Thayne, Thorian’s trusted right hand. Her tone carried something that made my stomach twist.
“You always show up when I need you,” she said softly, clearly speaking to someone nearby. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
The warmth in her voice was unmistakable. And worse—memories surfaced uninvited. The two of them together, too close, too familiar. A connection that went beyond loyalty.
My hands clenched.
With fury burning through my veins, I reached out to Thorian through our private line, my voice cold and cutting.
“Is this why you left Ashley alone?”
There was no reply.
Not until everything was over.
Not until Ashley had been buried beneath the cold, unforgiving ground. Not until the last handful of soil had been thrown over her grave. Not until the world had gone silent around me.
Only then did his voice return.
“She’s six,” he said flatly. “She could handle herself. But Selindra… she needed me.”