They killed Kael.
Tuck's voice echoed like a gunshot in Elysia's skull.
For a moment, she just stared, her mind unsure how to process the words.
No. She'd misheard. That…that wasn't possible.
Tuck backed away from the bars, guilt flooding his face. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't want to believe it either. They took him away when we first arrived. Started torturing him from what I've heard. Then…then I saw a man leaving the interrogation room. Told me Kael was gone."
Elysia listened, but her mind was going elsewhere.
"Then I heard the guards. They said his heart stopped."
"No. No-no he can't be dead," she whispered, her limbs becoming numb with shock.
Ronin reached out to steady her, but she pulled away as if his hand burned.
"He's not," she insisted, shaking her head. "He always comes back. Kael always comes back."
Her fists clenched, and the mask distorted her ragged breaths, turning them into broken, robotic gasps. She tore it off, letting it fall to the floor.
