71: Aunt Sera, Are You Sad?
SERA
He ducked just as a bullet cracked through the air, ripping past where his head had been less than a second ago. Screams erupted in the room. Juliet hit the ground, shrieking like a banshee.
Killian was already moving, stumbling back inside, dazed and sluggish but alive.
And I ran toward him.
"Stay down!" I shouted, throwing myself at him as another shot fired and glass exploded behind us.
Killian hit the ground hard, and I landed on top of him, shielding his body with mine.
"What the hell is happening?" He gasped, disoriented.
"Sniper," I hissed. "You were tagged. And if I hadn't shown up when I did, your brains would be all over the marble like modern art."
His eyes locked on mine. "You saw it?"
"Yeah. Lucky me. It's almost like I have PTSD X-ray vision now."
Another crack echoed. Security was already pouring out from every direction.
Killian reached for me, pulling me close, panting hard. "Did you see where the shot came from?"
"Rooftop across the street," I said. "North side. Professional. Probably silenced, suppressed, and gone before security blinks."
His jaw clenched.
Juliet was being dragged to safety, still screaming like she'd lost a limb and not an opportunity.
But I wasn't looking at her.
I was looking back.
Because I knew someone wanted him dead tonight.
And this wasn't some random attack.
This was perfectly timed. And worst of all, I had a feeling I knew exactly who had orchestrated it. Phoenix.
….
Killian was sitting on the edge of the sofa, still pale, his forearms braced on his thighs, breathing like someone who'd just run a marathon through hell.
His suit jacket had been tossed aside, his shirt slightly creased, and several buttons undone. And yet, somehow, he still looked like a man who could kill with a flick of his fingers, if only he wasn't drugged to the edge of consciousness.
I handed him another glass of water.
"Drink," I said, gently rubbing his back as he took it from me.
He didn't argue. He quietly tilted it back and swallowed as if it burned going down. His skin was clammy, and I could see the faint tremble in his hands. The sedative Juliet had slipped him was still working its way through his bloodstream, but he was pushing through with sheer stubborn force.
I stayed close, brushing his curls away from his face.
Across from us, Sonia Cross sat rigid in the armchair. Her hair was still perfect, pearls still glinting at her throat. But her posture was too tense and too shaken. For once, the queen mother of the empire looked... lost.
"I—I got a birthday gift," she murmured, clutching her shawl. "It arrived just before the party. There was no note or sender details attached. It was simply ... placed on my dresser as if a ghost had left it there."
Killian didn't respond. He just stared at her, waiting.
Her eyes met his.
"It was from Matteo,” she whispered. "He's alive."
I felt Killian go still beside me.
"He's alive," she repeated, more to herself than to us. "After all these years. My eldest son. My baby. I held his body. I buried an empty coffin."
She looked like she was trying not to cry or maybe vomit.
"And now..." Her voice cracked. "Now, tonight, he sends me a gift. On my birthday. And then... this."
She gestured faintly to Killian's state. Her eyes dropped to the now-empty glass in his hand.
"I can't believe Juliet did this to you," she said hoarsely. "That girl…what was she thinking?"
I snorted under my breath. "She wasn't. She thought seduction and sabotage would land her an empire. Typical heiress delusion."
Sonia said nothing to that. Which, frankly, was progress.
Killian leaned back slowly, his head resting against the couch, his throat working through the last of the nausea.
"I need you to understand something," he said to his mother. "Matteo's not back for reconciliation. He tried to have me sniped at your birthday party while I was drugged. With Juliet trying to stuff me into a car like I was a damn corpse."
Sonia gasped, horror spreading across her face.
"No…he wouldn't—"
"He did,” Killian cut in, his voice hoarse. "And if Sera hadn't been there, if she hadn't seen it coming, I'd be dead right now. A corpse on your garden. Happy birthday, Mom."
Sonia visibly recoiled. Her hands trembled in her lap. "This is why... this is why I never wanted my sons to fight over the empire and power. That's unfortunately the opposite of what your father wanted. He wanted to build heirs and weapons. Not sons."
"Well, it's too late for regrets," Killian snapped. "You didn't stop him. And now Matteo wants everything."
Silence settled briefly. Then Killian's gaze shifted to me. His eyes were more alert now. "Why didn't you tell me she was betrothed to him?"
Sonia flinched. I raised a brow, puzzled. I was betrothed to Phoenix? Talk about sick fate.
"You knew," he said coldly. "You knew, and you didn't say anything."
She looked away. "It wasn't my choice."
"Oh, so you were just the woman who gave birth to us. No big deal."
Sonia swallowed visibly. "It was your father. He arranged it years ago. Before you and Sera even knew each other."
I froze.
"Wait." My voice came out cracked. "What are you saying?"
Her gaze drifted to me, unreadable. It wasn’t quite cold. But not warm either.
"He hated your father, Seraphina," she said. "He blamed him for a betrayal I was never allowed to ask about. He wanted to take everything from him. Including you."
My stomach turned.
"And my parents?" I asked softly.
Sonia looked down.
"Did he kill them?”
She didn’t say a word, and the silence continued to swell. It was the kind that made your lungs tight and your hands go cold.
Sonia didn't answer.
And in that silence, I felt a thousand broken memories shifting in my skull. Blood. Screams. Fire. A lullaby.
Killian's hand found mine, threading through my fingers.
But I couldn't stop the question from bleeding out of me one more time.
"Did your husband…did he murder my family?”
Sonia finally met my eyes. And said nothing at all. Which, somehow, said everything.
I didn't wait.
As soon as Sonia looked away, guilt stitched into every line of her face, I turned and walked out of the sitting room before I said something cruel.
The door slammed shut behind me. I didn't go far. Just around the corner, far enough that the hallway turned dim and silent again. And then I slid to the floor with my back pressed to the cold wall, my arms slack.
It wasn't the betrayal that broke me. I was used to betrayal. I'd been trained in it and molded by it. It was the silence that did it. The way Sonia couldn't even say the words out loud, because she knew the moment she admitted it, the moment it was real, I'd never be able to look at Killian the same way again. Not without seeing the blood on his legacy.
And damn it, I loved him.
Even if his father might've murdered mine.
Even if this entire mess started long before either of us ever had a chance to choose anything for ourselves.
My head tilted back against the wall. My eyes burned, but I refused to cry.
"Are you sad?"
The tiny voice nearly made me jump out of my skin.
I blinked, startled, and looked up to see a tiny face peeking around the hallway corner.
"Rue?"
Killian's daughter tiptoed forward in her sparkly pink dress and glittery shoes, her curly hair bouncing around her chubby cheeks. She was holding a half-eaten cookie in one hand, a small tiara slightly crooked on her head.
She looked like a princess.
"Why are you sitting on the floor?" she asked, blinking those big blue eyes at me. "Aunt Sera, are you sad?”
God. That voice.
I swallowed hard and tried to smile. "I'm just... tired, sweetheart. It's been a long day."
She walked closer, frowning. "You look like you got hurt on the inside."
I actually choked a laugh at that. "You're too smart for your own good."
Rue plopped down next to me without invitation, setting her cookie on the floor as if it was a priceless heirloom. Then she leaned over and hugged me.
My arms wrapped around her automatically.
And then I froze.
Her skin... was hot.
It wasn’t flushed-from-playing hot. It was burning-to-the-touch hot.
I pulled back slightly and pressed the back of my hand to her forehead.
Shit.
My stomach dropped.
Her skin felt like a furnace. Her cheeks were too red. And now that I was really looking, her eyes were slightly glazed, as though she wasn't quite tracking everything.
"Rue," I said gently. "How long have you felt like this?"
She just blinked up at me, swaying slightly.
"Did you eat dinner?"
"I don't remember..." she mumbled.
And then, she swayed again. My heart sank.
"Rue?"
Her body went limp in my arms.
"Rue!”
Panic surged up my spine instantly.
I caught her before her head hit the marble, cradling her close as I knelt. Then I screamed over my shoulder, my voice breaking.
"Killian!”