Page 76 of Savage Throne
I lifted the teacup to my lips again, relishing in the heat from the cup settling against my palms.
More of that bitter-sweet tea spread across my tongue.
It was good but even the tea couldn’t wash away the images burned into my mind.
The bodies.
Those cold, lifeless bodies tied behind the targets.
The bullet holes I’d made, neat and precise, perfectly centered in their skulls.
The blood.
Thick and dark.
Dripping slowly like a twisted hourglass, each drop marking the moment I’d crossed an invisible line.
Fuck him. Those aren’t my victims. They’re not. It doesn’t count.
Shivering, I placed the tea back on the table and told myself that those men were already gone before I pulled the trigger.
They had to be dead before I even arrived. That was just one of his fucked-up illusions again.
Yet, logic gnawed at my brain.
No. . .I killed them. . .
Leo was sick.
Those men had been breathing, barely hanging on, and I had been the one to steal the last bit of life from them.
Don’t think about it. Talk to God about this when you’re gone from Leo. For now. . .focus.
I took another sip of tea, hoping the heat would burn my anxiety away, but it clung to me like smoke, curling into every corner of my mind.
Am I a killer now?
The weight of the gun had felt so right in my hands—too right.
It was a terrifying realization, knowing how easily I could fire without hesitation, how natural it had become to aim and shoot, even with that sickening sense of unease lurking beneath the surface.
Even after the blood began to appear on the target. . .I kept on shooting.
No. No. Don’t.
I put my view back on Leo and he was still watching and assessing me.
He’s trying to strip away the part of me that still believes in limits? I won’t let that happen.
I swallowed hard.
The tea tasted like ash now. The delicate jasmine scent clashed with the metallic memory of blood in the cold night air.
I finished my tea and placed the cup on the table.
Leo spoke for the first time since the phone call. “Would you like more tea?”
“No.” Song shook his head. “She should not get anymore, Leo.”
