The Red Queen by Meg Xuemei X Page A

smile.
    “It’s getting worse,” she admitted. “I think I’m losing it.”
    “You’ll hang in here,” he ordered.
    She shook her head. “I can’t grasp reality. I can’t get hold of myself anymore. The last person I can trust is myself. I hurt everyone, and I’ll hurt them again. I could never imagine I’d hurt you if it hadn’t happened.”
    “But you didn’t,” he said. “You only threw me out of the way. It’ll pass, kid. We’ll get through this.”
    “No,” she said. “I knew you and the generals were having a meeting about me when I stormed into your office. The men are right to worry about Sphinxes’ future.”
    “You’re still the heart and soul of Sphinxes. Its future lies with you.”
    “Blind loyalty won’t get us anywhere,” she said. “We need to face reality, especially you. I’ve become a danger to everyone and everything we’ve built.”
    “So you just quit?” He sounded like he wanted to shoot someone.
    “I’m not quitting,” she said, “but this battle I’ll have to fight alone.”
    “You’re not alone! You’ll never fight alone.”
    “Kian, our army can’t fight my war. Not this time,” she said. “You have no idea of the dark place I’ve been. Even you can’t go with me. No one can. I’d rather go down alone than drag you all down with me.”
    “The day you arrived at the Red Mansion, our fates were already tied together. You were just an infant in my arms biting me, but I knew you’d be at the center of this war. I’ve never regretted choosing to serve and protect you. You gave my life purpose that day.”
    Kian had been orphaned at seven years old. He’d watched his parents being slaughtered. Jed found him two days later, took him in as his own son, and gave him the best military training. Kian took off to track down his enemies. Half a year later, he returned with a bullet in his gut and a knife wound stretching from his left shoulder to his chest. News broke out the next day that a notorious gun smuggling lord and four of his bodyguards had died horrendous deaths. At thirteen, Kian had taken them out single-handedly.
    He’d never been gentle and warm to anyone until baby Lucienne had clutched his face in her chubby hands and called him “Kia.” That had been her first word. She’d also left her teeth marks in his chin. The power inside her had struck him, and Kian had been the first to recognize her as the true Siren. Their bond had been unbreakable since then. 
    “You sink, I sink with you,” Kian said, “but I won’t let you fall.”
    Lucienne gave him a long look. “Fine. But leave the men out of our struggle.”
    “That I can arrange,” he said. “And kid, just so you know, this is just another battle we fight to win.”
    “And just so you know, we no longer fight the enemies we can see. We’re fighting me. A war you and I might not win.”
    “Only when you surrender.”
    “I promise you I won’t. But I’ll relieve everyone around me, so they won’t be in harm’s way. There will be no house duties either, not even for Aida.”
    “That’s a bit extreme, kid.”
    “Better safe than sorry.”
    “How about we give them a choice? If they choose to leave, then that settles it.”
    “You know they’ll never choose to leave.”
    “Then you’ll be insulting them by forcing them to abandon you.”
    “I’m doing this for their good.”
    “Let them decide what’s good for them.”
    “Neither Vlad nor Ash should come near me again. I almost killed one of them.”
    Just then, Ashburn trudged in with a glass of almond milk.Why did everyone assume she should drink milk?
    Kian also frowned at Ashburn. “I clearly told everyone, including you, not to disturb us.”
    Ashburn must have been watching them through the live feed of Kian’s memories. “I have something important to share.” 
    “I hope Blazek won’t pop up in the next second and make this a circus show again,” grunted Kian.
    “He’s in the medical center,”