29. Chapter 29

Dmitri

Present

"Istopped stabbing him when I saw blue and red lights bouncing off of all of the trees and heard sirens piercing through the air," Jade says shakily.

"The cops found me stumbling around, shaking, covered in his blood, and it was like they just knew. No one yelled at me or accused me of anything; they just started covering me with their coats and looking me over for wounds. I knew my feet were bad because this girl officer turned green when she saw them, but they were pretty numb from the cold at that point."

Hot blood rushes through my veins, my heartbeat slamming in my ears. I have to hit something or kill someone; the need is pounding and unrelenting, but I can't move. I have to listen to this because it's my Jade.

Coming back to find her sniffling in my brother's arms was already enough to have violent thoughts bouncing around in my head. And now she's told us everything. From the kitchen counter to the hunt, stopping to cry and collect herself at times.

"I was so cold, but I still felt this relief. Until someone yelled that they had a heartbeat, and all of a sudden, I wished Bruce had been able to kill me. I wished I hadn't fought back at all because it was for nothing. I knew they'd get him back, and I knew he'd never leave me alone. I failed. I didn't escape, I just?—"

"You didn't fail," Ivan murmurs, rubbing her back.

"I screamed," Jade continues. "I just fucking broke down and started begging them to let him die, but they couldn't."

"They should have," my brother agrees, continuing to comfort her while I remain frozen in place.

"There was a news van pulling up," she states bitterly. "They couldn't be caught not trying to save him. I'm just glad I was still seventeen, so they couldn't say my name or talk about me at all because of minor protection laws. Just that an underage girl was attacked, and her assailant was in critical condition."

If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was attempting to convince me not to kill the news reporters who crushed her spirit while she was already hanging on by a thread. It doesn't really matter because it's not working.

With watery eyes, Jade uses her sleeves to wipe at her damp cheeks. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you both sooner. I shouldn't have let you get close to me without warning you. It seems like everywhere I go, someone wants to get rid of me."

"Don't apologize," I rasp, trying my hardest to quell my rage. The last thing I want to do is direct any of it to her, even accidentally. "Don't ever apologize, Krasotka."

Like she can't help it, she shoots forward, thrusting her body against mine and hiding her face in the crook of my neck. She whimpers, trembling arms locking around my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm s?—"

"Shhh," I coax, holding the back of her head. "Don't, Jade."

"I'm sorry," she persists. "What if they target you too? I'm s-scared."

"Jade, listen to me, baby," I say, keeping my voice firm. "I hope they come for me. I want them to try and take me out because they'll expose themselves if they do. If I knew where they were, I'd already be leaving the Island to fucking crucify them."

"Don't be scared," Ivan adds. "They may want you dead, but you aren't an easy kill anymore, Jade. With the Morettis and the Morozovs, you're untouchable."

"I don't feel untouchable," she mumbles sadly, sniffing.

You will once they're all dead.

With the low hours of the morning coming in fast, I know she has to go back to her room, but not until she's had a couple of hours of sleep.

I carry her to bed, muttering soft words of encouragement.

You're safe.

I've got you.

Just rest.

Without saying a word, Ivan climbs under the covers with us, laying down on Jade's other side. Their hands intertwine, and eventually, she soundlessly drifts off.

Ivan closes his eyes, but I know he isn't fully asleep. I can't even bring myself to shut mine, knowing that if I do, I'll have a waking nightmare. Jade's story is playing in my head on a loop, and all I can see is her broken spirit and her terrified face.

I won't sleep for a singular second today, but it's fine. As long as she gets to, I can handle this. As long as she can endure the memories, I'll endure the knowledge of them.

Until I can do something about it.

Jade is much happier when she wakes up. In fact, she seems a bit embarrassed by her emotional state from the night before. Thankfully, she doesn't apologize again.

With Ivan's help, we get her back into her room before the early risers start to roam around campus, running for training or getting up to eat before the crowd.

If we didn't need to be on our guards, we'd be on our way to the fighting ring to beat the hell out of each other and shake this edge off. That's not an option, so I need to hear something to make me feel marginally better, and I know just where I need to go for that. Ivan will hang around, keeping an eye on Jade while I disappear into the forest.

Half a mile walk later, I find the measly little waterfall flowing, and just who I'm looking for sitting in front of it.

"I should have never told you I come here," he mutters, not looking up from his book. "What are you here to bother me about this time?"

"Jade," I answer honestly.

Nico looks up from his book, blinking at me like he must have heard me wrong.

"That's funny," he snarls without a hint of humor. "I thought you just said my sister's name, but that can't be right, can it?"

"She's friends with Ivan," I reveal, knowing it isn't the time to show all of my cards.

With one hand, he closes the book, snapping the pages together. "Since when, exactly? This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"They have knives together." I shrug, trying to lighten the news.

He arches a challenging brow. "Is there a reason that Ivan is taking a knives class? Did he hit his head and forget that he's been using them since childhood?"

"Ivan takes courses that don't piss him off, like someone else I know," I say, waving him off. If Nico can relate to Ivan on anything, it's his disdain for dull Empire Academy classes. My brother is here for me, and now he's here for Jade.

"So they're friends," he parrots, digesting the concept. "That's fine, she could choose worse. At least he's not a pestering cowboy, Armani has too many of those already."

I pause, surprised he let that slip. Nico doesn't do personal details.

Though we've had a working relationship for years now, maybe he's finally accepting the fact that we're sort of friends.

"I'm not here to protest their friendship," I tell him firmly. "I'm here because of something she told him—and subsequently me—about her past."

His shoulders straighten, the only sign of being unnerved he lets slip. "What did she say?"

"She's scared of The Knights," I answer, refusing to admit how much she's shared. "Terrified of them actually, but Ivan assured her they don't come here. He didn't tell her that they don't go anywhere at all anymore, because he isn't sure why she wouldn't already know that."

His jaw ticks. "Oh?"

"It's the oddest thing that she didn't seem to know The Knights have all seemingly disappeared. I'd think that would be something her family would make her aware of."

He hums, trying to appear disinterested.

"You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?"

"Apollo and I slaughtered them all," he deadpans. "Why? Friends of yours?"

"Not even a little bit," I grit out, fists clenched into balls.

"And so you're asking because?"

My fists clench harder. "Why haven't you told her? She's clearly still scared of them. She cried about it."

"There's one left," he returns. "She'll know once we have the failed one too."

"She cried," I repeat, harsher this time.

"Yes, traumatized teenage girls tend to do that," he snaps back, clearly angry about it. I don't truly know how Nico's emotional range works, but I know Jade is a soft spot in his typically ironclad armor.

"I know," I emphasize.

Nico knows more than anyone else here, apart from my family, how much I know what he's talking about. He knows about Anya.

He sighs, long and heavy.

"Jade is afraid of having things taken from her," he reveals almost clinically, beginning to explain his reasoning. "When she first came to us, Apollo brought up a paternity test. He's very analytical, and in a lot of ways, so is Jade. Dad snapped that he didn't need a test to know his daughter, but she wanted one anyway."

This is the most I've gotten out of Nico in a long time.

"She has a lot of fears, but mostly, she's scared of getting something and having it ripped away right after. She couldn't accept having a family unless she knew it was for real, on paper, and not some kind of sick joke to toy with her."

I'm about to ask what he's getting at when he finally comes around to his point.

"This is the same thing," he mutters darkly. "I can't offer her release from her fear until they're all gone. If I tell her The Knights are dead, she'll feel better, and she won't be as on guard, and then something bad will happen. It'll just hurt her worse."

I hate that it sounds like he's right.

Stubbornly, I ask, "Did Apollo come to this conclusion, or did you?"

"You know, you're starting to make it seem like you have a vested interest in my sister's well-being way outside of the realm that your brother and her are friends."

"And if I did?"

Nico looks at me, blue eyes attempting to peer into my very soul.

I don't hold my breath for his approval, but I brace myself in case he decides to take a shot at me. Out of respect for my girl, I won't hurt him, but I won"t let him hurt me either. I've got a reason to stay in shape, and injuries are not advisable right now.

"You want to marry her or something?"

"Would you try to kill me if I did?" I counter, tilting my head at him.

"No, actually," he says, twisting his lips like he's surprised himself. "I might approve, that is, if she wants you too."

"You approve?"

"She'll marry someone," he states plainly. "It might as well be a man who knows what I'll do to him if he hurts her. Or pressures her. Or does anything she doesn't like."

I know what he means. I'd want the same for Anya.

If she recovers like I hope and that light returns to her eyes, I'd want someone who I know has no choice but to treat her like she deserves. He'd have to cherish her the way I do Jade, and he'd have to know that I'd go to the ends of the earth to avenge her.

"Alright," I comment, nodding. "Good talk."

"Good talk," he echoes.

At least I'll have one of her brothers on my side. Well, sort of.