“Well, it took a while to track down Perseus.”
“He didn’t need Perseus,” Pieter said. “We could have helped Matteo kill him.”
“Yes, but Matteo wanted to do this right the second time. He knows Kiev will suffer more if taken back to Aviary. A quick death from us would be too light a punishment in his eyes.”
“He also knows that both Saira and Mona developed a liking for Kiev,” Dominic said. “Matteo couldn’t just swipe him away for no good reason without upsetting them… and you know how important they are to him. Especially Mona.”
Giles looked out toward the ocean. I didn’t miss the scowl on his face as soon as Dominic mentioned my name.
“Do you think he made a mistake?” Pieter asked.
“Mistake?”
Pieter paused for a few moments, hesitating before opening his mouth again. “Telling us to leave him alone with that bastard.”
“Well, he’s not going to be alone with him for long, is he?” Giles grinned from ear to ear.
Pieter nodded. “I suppose not.”
“Once he does reach the eastern border of Triquetra, there’s no reason to fear for him. Hawks don’t like to wait around…”
They continued talking, but I could no longer make sense of the words entering my ears. The vibrating of four words took over my mind and senses.
They pounded through my brain, replaying over and over again.
Kiev.
Hawk.
Eastern border.
When Saira had approached me with news of Kiev’s pending execution back at The Tavern, I had hesitated. Indeed, I had thought it better we left him behind.
But now, after hearing those three vampires gossiping on the mountain, there was no thinking to be done. My brain shut down. In its place was sheer adrenaline. I knew where the location was. What I didn’t know was whether I would be able to get there on time. I rushed through the gate, ignoring the protests of the guard, and stumbled out across the sand.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I ran. Tears of uncertainty. Tears of fear over the consequences of this reckless action.
But I couldn’t stop myself from running.
I reached the port and found a dolphin swimming near the main ship. I had no time to find a boat and harness it in. I dove into the water and mounted it directly.
“Hurry,” I whispered as the dolphin sped through the waves.
When I approached the narrow rock formation that marked Triquetra’s eastern border, a small boat came into view. Both relief and terror rushed through me at once. On reaching it, I gripped the edge of the boat and hauled myself over.
I clasped a hand over my mouth to swallow a scream. Kiev lay on the deck in a pool of his own blood, barely breathing. Matteo stood looming over him, slashing his skin to the point where Kiev was becoming unrecognizable.
“Matteo!”
I rushed forward and flung myself at Matteo. He whirled around, sliding me off him, and stared down at me. The darkness in his eyes made me stumble back. I’d never seen Matteo in such a state before in all the years I had known him.
“Wh-what the hell are you doing?” I gasped, grabbing on to his arm.
Matteo’s face contorted with irritation as he shook me away. He seemed to struggle for a moment whether to ignore my presence and go back to maiming Kiev. He lowered his blood-soaked claws. “Exactly what this man deserves.” His deep voice trembled as he spoke.
“What? But you said—”
“This monster killed my sister! She was madly in love with him. And he murdered her while she was helpless!” Matteo slammed his hands down against the side of the boat, the force of his motion rocking the boat dangerously from side to side.
His words knocked me breathless.
I stared at Kiev’s barely breathing form, unsure of what to think. What to believe. What to feel.
Just an hour ago, I would have wanted to believe that Kiev was a murderer. It would have made it easier to rebuild my walls to their former height, brick by brick. But now all I felt was fear.
As I looked down into his tortured eyes, the truth came crashing down on me. I had let him strip me away, layer by layer, and now that I found myself standing before him almost naked, I wondered what kind of a person I had allowed to behold me.
What if I’ve made a mistake even coming here?
What if he doesn’t deserve to be saved?
As Matteo barged past, brushing me aside to launch himself at Kiev once again, my knees buckled. I collapsed in a corner, barely paying attention to the hawk sitting a few feet away from me. Conflicting emotions erupted within me all at once. So many things about the situation didn’t make sense to me. But most of all, I didn’t understand why Kiev wasn’t fighting back. Why is he just lying there?
Matteo stopped his renewed tirade of blows and gripped Kiev’s neck, pulling him into standing position. I watched as the two men looked into each other’s eyes.
“I just need you to know”—the words escaped Kiev’s lips in a rasping whisper—“that I loved your sister.”
“Bastard! Shut your mouth! Shut your lying m—”
Matteo choked mid-sentence and, letting go of Kiev, fell to his knees. His hands balled into fists as he crashed them down against the floorboards. He continued beating the floor until his hands were a bloody mess. Tears streaming from his eyes, his entire body trembling and racked with sobs, he dropped his head to the floor and lost himself to grief.
Kiev fell beside him, clutching his leg, his eyes still fixed on Matteo. “I can’t expect you to ever forgive me. Kill me now, or send me back to Aviary. But… I just need you to know that I loved your sister. I loved Natalie… until her last breath.”
Then Kiev shed tears of his own. They dripped down his face slowly, then all at once, mixing with blood and dirt. Minutes passed by as the two men lay on the ground shaking, their hearts suffering as one.
“N-no, Kiev,” Matteo managed finally, looking up at him, pain traced in his eyes.
Kiev stared at him in bewilderment.
“God knows I don’t want to believe it,” Matteo said. “I want to believe you’re a cold-blooded killer. I want to believe that you meant to kill Natalie and that you enjoyed every damn second of it. But no matter how hard I’ve tried to convince myself… I-I can’t see it in your eyes. I just can’t see it in those cursed eyes.”
“What?” Kiev breathed, his voice choked up. “I killed your sister, for Christ’s sake.”
“Don’t think a second goes by when I forget it,” Matteo said, wincing. “But of creatures who inhabit the darkness, there are two types. Those who revel in it, and those who fight to escape it.”