He stood and paced the floor around the bed in angry strides. Kiara's heart pounded in sympathetic pain and she wished once m ore she could soothe him.
Nykyrian looked up at her, his eyes troubled. "I can't explain to you how it felt to realize everything about you was a lie and everything you had been doing for six years was immoral and wrong."
"That's why you quit the League?"
He nodded.
A smile curved her lips, tears gathering in her eyes. Her heart hammered against her ribs and love spread through her.
"That's when I became Nem esis."
Her smile faded as he faced her and his words penetrated her thoughts. "What!"
"I'm Nemesis."
Kiara's mind went numb. Over and over, she heard the news broadcasts informing the public of the grisly killings. She sprang from the bed, cold terror washing over her. Dear God, she was in the house alone with a brutal killer!
Nykyrian caught her by the arms as she tried to run down the stairs. "Kiara, listen to me."
"No!" she shrieked, struggling against him. "My God, you rip people into pieces! You . .
. You eat pieces of them before you dump their bodies!"
Nykyrian closed his eyes and released her. Without another word, he left her alone in the room.
Kiara sank to the floor, unable to believe his declaration. Nemesis. Dear God, what had she involved herself in? No wonder Rachol was so afraid of her. With this knowledge, she could hand Nykyrian over to the authorities and put an end to all the brutal assassinations. Everything she had thought about him was a lie. He was a killer, a coldblooded, ruthless killer!
An image of Jana flashed through her m ind. The way Nykyrian had protected, then soothed the child before carrying him to safety. I'm scared too, she heard Nykyrian whisper the day he saved her from Aksel. He had been chained to the wall, Orinthe said in her ear.
Kiara took a deep breath to slow the pounding beat of her heart. Nykyrian had trusted her. He had given her the most sought-after secret in the universe.
She sat on the floor for close to an hour, trying to sift through her warring emotions. Part of her wanted her to do the right thing and turn him in, but her heart and soul wouldn't let her. Nykyrian wasn't a brutal killer, she knew that. Deep inside her, she saw the part of him who had saved a starving boy off the street, who helped Rachol, who guarded her. There was more to his being Nemesis than the reports given by the news. Standing up, Kiara went to find Nykyrian and the truth behind his facade.
She found him in the exercise room , stripped to his waist, pounding a weight bag. Each blow he delivered to the bag was one in studied fury. She could feel his anger and pain as if it were her own.
"Nykyrian," she said softly.
He hesitated, looking over at her. The bag swung back, knocking him sideways. He let out a loud grunt and pushed the bag away from him. Kiara stifled her laughter over the shocked look on his face.
"What are you doing here?" he dem anded in a fierce voice, striking the bag again with his fist. "I might get blood on you."
She swallowed the knot in her throat as he turned to deliver a succession of fast, angry blows to the bag.
Kiara watched his hands pound into the rough canvas. "I'm sorry for my reaction, but what did you expect?"
His hand flew into the bag with a heavy thud that caused the chains suspending it from the ceiling to rattle. "I don't expect a damned thing from you. Just take your prissy," he pounded the bag, "spoiled," another forceful blow, "ass out of my sight before I show you just what Nemesis is capable of."
Kiara's common sense told her to leave, that he was too angry to talk to, but she couldn't.
Before she could rethink her actions, she crossed the room and pushed him away from the bag. He gave her an astonished look. The bag swung in an arc between them.
"You are going to talk to me!"
Nykyrian snorted. "Or what? Don't think for one minute you can do anything to me someone else hasn't done already."
Kiara lowered her gaze from his face as pain consumed her, wanting some way to break through his overdeveloped defenses. Then she saw his knuckles. She gasped at the blood dripping from his hands.
"What did you do?" she asked, crossing the distance between them to take his bleeding, swollen knuckles into her own hands.
"It doesn't hurt," he mumbled, trying to pull them away.
Kiara held on tightly. With a fierce frown she studied his eyes and there she saw his agony. He closed his eyes and pulled away.
"Nykyrian, talk to me, please. I swear I'll listen. I know you aren't capable of tearing someone apart."