Page 174 of Fated Mates of the Titan Empire

“He is at rest. Now.”

That single word, “Now,” turned her entire meaning on its head. Not that it wasn’t obvious before. I just refused to accept it.

And just like that, she shattered my entire world.

I clung to the hope I misunderstood her. But I wouldn’t question her. That would make it too real.

“I’m sorry,” Stari said.

The tears were in my eyes before I blinked again. They ran down my cheeks but I couldn’t feel them.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

Stari looked up at me.

“He’s still out there somewhere,” I said. “He has to be.”

“I know it’s difficult to accept,” Stari said.

“He’s too strong to be gone. He’s still out there fighting. I know it.”

“I could show you his body if that would help.”

I searched Stari’s face for any hint she was bluffing.

I found none.

I decided to call her bluff, tell her I wanted to see his body. Even if she took me to see him, I would assume the body wasn’t his. It would be fake, a forgery they’d made, like this entire gameshow.

“Yes,” I said. “I want to see him.”

Stari searched my expression before nodding.

“Then follow me,” she said.

The door slid open automatically as she approached it. I got up and moved toward the doorway but couldn’t pass through it.

Stari stood on the other side and waited patiently.

“He’s this way,” she said.

I stared at the seam line that marked where my room ended and the rest of the base began.

But it wasn’t only a base. It was a whole world where Chax no longer lived. He was dead on that side of the door. In this room, he was still alive—to me anyway. To keep him alive, I had to stay in this room. If I stepped outside and saw his body, if I accepted he was gone, it would infect this room and remove him from all existence.

I stepped back.

The automatic door slid shut. Stari was there a moment later, appearing in the doorway.

I fell back on the cot and sat with my head in my hands. A deep chasm opened in my chest, a hole so big and deep I knew I could never fill it.

Stari let the door slide shut behind her. She stood there for a while and didn’t say a word.

“I’ll… come back later,” she said.

She turned to leave.

“Am I free to leave?” I said.