Sighing at his own epic stupidity, he opened his arms to her and she quickly accepted the invitation for a hug.
In spite of the pain caused from her body touching his, he held her to his chest. She tucked her head beneath his chin like his sister had done when she was a little girl just returning from her treatments. How he hated his own weakness. Mara had been everything to him and he still mourned her. Zarya reminded him so much of her that he, who had sworn to let no one back into his life, had been an utter fool for her from day one. He was that way with any woman in pain.
A sucker to the extreme.
And the last thing he wanted to do was lose another family member he loved.
“You have to tell them what they want to know, Z.”
“I can’t. They want me to give them the names of the Sentella High Command.”
The Sentella was the only organization in existence that truly threatened the League’s iron grip on their United Systems. They alone could break the League apart and free the governments that lived in fear of the League’s tyranny. But this wasn’t about the freedom of people who wouldn’t spit on them if they were on fire.
This was about their own survival. The League interrogators had already killed her once. Next time, they might not revive her.
He brushed the bloody hair back from her face. “You need to think of your baby, honey. You’re lucky you haven’t miscarried already.”
Still, she held on to a blind hope he couldn’t even begin to fathom. “Darling will come for us. I know he will.”
Ture ground his teeth at her childish devotion. Not once since they’d been taken had it faltered. She honestly thought her boyfriend would come risk his own life and free them from this hellhole.
How he wished he could believe it, too. But he knew better. “Heroes aren’t real. They don’t come charging in to save their damsel. Trust me. They vapor trail off at the first sign of trouble, leaving you behind to face the invading army all by yourself, hoping they’ll burn the house down on top of you so they don’t have to deal with you again.”
“No, Ture. Those are selfish assholes. A hero doesn’t give up or give in. Ever. Darling told me he would crawl naked through Kere’s fiery and frigid domain, over broken glass, just to hold my hand, and I believe him.”
“Men will say anything to get into your pants, love. They don’t mean a word of it.”
She took his hand into hers and held it tight. “I’m sorry that you’ve never been in love with a man who really loved you back, Ture. But I’m telling you...I have seen what Darling and Maris have gone through for each other, and they won’t leave us here. They won’t rest until they’ve rescued us. I know it.”
Ture opened his mouth then closed it. There was no need in arguing. She had her delusions and he had his. Maybe there had been a time in his life when he’d been so blinded by love that he, too, believed such bullshit. But too many years of being bitch-slapped by selfish dicks had taken its toll on him.
Not even his own family had ever been there when he needed them. So why should a stranger?
People, by their very natures, were users. That was just the way it was.
But in spite of his past, he wouldn’t take away the only thing that gave her comfort in this unending misery. Let her have her delusions while she could. He tightened his grip, his heart breaking for her, and for the letdown she’d set herself up for.
They had actually killed her today during her torture and then brought her back just so they could continue on with it.
Damn them all for their cruelty.
“I hope you’re right, sweetie,” he breathed against her hair. The last thing he wanted was for her to learn the harsh lessons that had been rammed down his throat with a violent fist. He wept for the loss of anyone’s innocence, especially when the loss was brutal. And deep down in a place he hated, was that last vestige of his own hope that she was right. That maybe, just maybe, there were people in the world worth something. Someone who could stand by you even in hell and not betray you.
Yeah...
“Zarya?”
“Mmm?”
He cleared the knot in his throat as he asked a question that made him hate himself and his own blind optimism even more. “Tell me what it’s like to be held by someone who really loves you.”
Zarya swallowed hard. His request wrung her heart. While almost everyone she’d ever loved had been brutally murdered, Ture’s family had abandoned or disowned him. Or worse, they used him. Because of that, he’d had an even harder time trusting people than she did. No matter what, he expected the people around him to turn on him.
The saddest part?
They always had.
“It’s the most wonderful thing you can imagine. There’s truly nothing like it.”
He sighed wearily. “I don’t know how you can take such a beating and still protect him.”
How could she not? Darling would do the same for her, and then some. She had no doubt. He really was that kind of man. “Did I ever tell you what my mother’s last words were to me?”