Chapter 168: A Friend to Count On
Zane~
If silence could scream, the room was deafening.
Sebastian’s glass clinked softly as he set it down. Cassandra sat frozen beside Sebastian on the couch, her expression pale like moonlight on ash. Her hands sat stiff on her laps, trembling just slightly—so slightly you’d miss it if you didn’t look closely.
Neither of them was breathing.
"You’re lying," Cassandra whispered, almost like she didn’t believe her own voice. "You’re joking, right?"
"I wish I was," I muttered, sinking further into the couch. "He’s alive. I saw him with my own eyes, Cassandra. In my own damn house. Breathing my air like he didn’t die weeks ago."
Sebastian shot forward from his seat. "Wait—what?! Griffin Blackthorn? That Griffin? Are you sure?"
I looked up slowly, meeting his wide eyes. "One hundred percent. Tall. Brown hair. Gray eyes. Completely stupid and arrogant as ever."
"But that’s impossible," Cassandra said, voice cracking. "I saw him die. Zane, I watched Kalmia rip the life out of him with her own damn hands. That blood—it was everywhere. I’ve been carrying that ever since I woke up that day. That guilt. It was... it was my fault. I led him into Kalmia’s hands."
Her hands trembled harder now.
I stood, walking toward her slowly. "You didn’t kill him, Cassandra."