That’s all she allows herself to hurt. And then she stands up.
“You surrender?” Milo asks, with a sly grin.
“Yes, I surrender,” Kai says without looking at me.
Milo looks to me. “Then it looks like you and I have a deal, Black.”
I nod and hold out my hand. He takes it, and we shake.
Milo turns to Kai. “I’ll see you at the next battle for the Black empire then.” Milo looks to me. “Come, we have a lot to discuss, prisoner.”
I take a step forward, and Kai loses it. She runs to me and grabs my neck, kissing me with everything she has. Her tongue wastes no time dipping inside mine as she throws her arms around my neck. I feel her sweet tears running down her cheek, and I feel her heart fluttering weakly in her chest, too broken to function properly.
She’s safe.
That’s all that matters.
I know she can’t physically break the kiss. And so I gently put her on her feet as I break the seal of our lips and exhale, “Trust me, stingray.”
I take a step back and signal to Langston who immediately darts from his hiding spot in the shadows and grabs her, keeping her from following us.
And then I do something impossible. I turn my back on Kai and follow Milo. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, my heart breaks a little. Milo won’t hurt me too badly until he’s assured I will win the battle to be Black and give the empire to him.
I’ll live at least until the games are over, and then I’m sure I’ll die a torturous death—but Kai will live. Langston will help her become Black or set her free. And then she’ll find a man worthy of her to get married and live her perfect happily ever after with. Something she deserves more than any woman I’ve met.
Milo leads me out to a back stairwell.
It takes everything inside me not to turn around and tell Kai how much I love her too. This feels like my last chance to tell her. But I know it would break her more. And it would make it harder for her to stay instead of following me.
So I don’t, I just follow. But she devastates my heart when I overhear her speak to Langston, who I know has her in a death grip—it’s the only way to keep her from following me.
“What’s the plan, Langston? Tell me Enzo has a plan that involves him surviving. Tell me he didn’t just lie to me,” Kai says.
And Langston, ever the truth teller, breaks what is left of Kai’s heart. “I can’t.”
3
Kai
Watching Enzo go, broke me in a way I didn’t expect. I thought my heart would break cleanly—a definite crack down the middle. Enzo would take half my heart, and I
would get the remains. Neither parts being enough to save either of us but enough to live a half-life. One with less color, but a life all the same.
But that’s not how my heart broke. First, it cracked, then it shattered. There wasn’t just one crack; there were many. Tiny pieces flaked off, disappearing into every part of my body to cause havoc. My heart swelled with pain, expanding to a ridiculous size in my chest, searching for the cause of my pain. But even that wasn’t enough damage to my heart. After the swelling, my heart crushed like a hundred-ton elephant stomped on top of it.
There is no coming back from that. No way I will heal from the crack, shatter, swelling, exploding, and stomping. My heart is permanently broken.
Forever and ever.
I can’t go cold again and lock away my feelings. There is nothing left to protect—Enzo destroyed it.
I collapse to the floor in the wake of Enzo leaving.
The tears and sobs start rattling around in my chest, threatening to break free and drown me.
Langston’s arms tighten around me again, keeping me from suddenly jumping up and chasing after Enzo and Milo.
I hate Langston.