A Bonds of Steel and Blood sequel.
Reinae Agnar thought she had left the darkness of the Underground City behind when she joined the Survey Corps, but some shadows refuse to fade. As she struggles to balance her duties with her burning vendetta and...
There was no sun in the sky when she returned to the castle. No one said anything as she dismounted at the stables, stumbling when her feet hit the ground.
No one dared move or speak as she walked towards the gates. She didn't care for the way the kids stared at her with terror in their eyes. She didn't care for her former squad that looked at her as if they didn't know her. She didn't care for the bloody trail she left behind on the stone courtyard.
Her face was empty. Void of emotions. Her shirt—Levi's shirt—was drenched in blood that wasn't her own, yet it coursed through her veins. She hated knowing that.
She barely made it halfway to the castle door when they opened. Her eyes, lightless, dull, lined with blood, fell upon Jasper's worried expression. Then Mila's tearful eyes. Then Carter and Isaac's pale faces.
She stopped in her tracks when she beheld her brother.
Aiden remained still. One look into his green eyes told her that he knew everything. And that he understood.
Her lower lip trembled. Her knees buckled. She closed her eyes, feeling them burn.
A body crashed into hers, huge arms hugging her tightly. She let herself sink to her knees in her brother's embrace. And when she felt his hot tears falling to her face, Reinae let herself cry.
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Levi stood in his room, staring through the window. His hands were clenched behind his back, as they had been for days.
He didn't react when the bedroom door opened. His room had become an infirmary with Reinae lying in his bed unconscious, and he didn't have the heart to stop people from coming to check on her.
"Still nothing?" he heard Aiden mutter as he walked to his sister.
Levi faced him and shook his head. His jaw was clenched so hard his entire skull hurt.
"They said she should've woken up days ago," he gritted out.
Aiden smiled sadly, stroking his sister's hair. Levi noticed how similar he was to their father—as if they were the same person. And Reinae was a copy of her mother with her father's eyes. He couldn't even imagine how hard it must've been for them both to see each other grow into their parents.
"I don't know how much you know about her powers," Aiden suddenly spoke without looking at Levi. "But she shattered the minds of fifteen men without even touching them. It usually drains her to do this to one person using physical contact." His expression darkened with worry. "Ten years ago, when she returned to the underground, she was half-dead. Despite being life-threateningly wounded because of that bastard, she still managed to shatter the minds of three guards so that she could return to me and Jasper. When she found us, she was barely alive. And after she'd collapsed, she didn't wake up for almost a month."
