Helena's response was nothing more than a weak, wet cough that sent a spray of blood spattering across Rex's boots. It was a feeble gesture, a dying ember of defiance that lacked even the strength to be insulting.
Her head lolled back in his grip, her vision swimming in a haze of crimson and gray.
"Still trying to hold onto something?" Rex asked, his voice dropping to a murmur that was almost intimate. "Still trying to maintain some shred of dignity?"
He tilted her chin upward with his free hand, forcing her swollen eye to focus on the long, imposing gray wall that bordered the garden. "Your children are watching, Helena..."
"All three of them... Do you see them? But only two are currently watching..."
"Don't..." she wheezed, the word breaking into a crimson bubble at her lips. "Don't you... dare..."
But he did. He forced her gaze toward the stone barrier, and in that moment, the psychic dam broke.
Behind the wall, Lily wasn't just crying; she was unraveling.
