I laid there, for a second too long, unblinking, unmoving.
I stared at the sky as my head spun and the world swayed.
A short whimper escaped my throat.
What… just… happened?
There were more screams and Gideon rushed past me, as I tried to understand what was happening. The scene, from the moment Killian’s eyes widened to the moment he flung us onto the ground, each second of it flashed in front of my eyes like a black and white Polaroid picture.
We were shot at?
No, someone tried to shoot me from behind.
And Killian… saved me.
I brought a hand up to my face, my hand slamming over my mouth as I shivered uncontrollably. The pins holding my veil had come undone, with the lace fabric no longer covering my face. I panicked, a shuddering breath leaving my lungs, as my arm shot out and I blindly searched for my veil.
It was then I realized that Killian was laying still on top of me, his body weight crushing me into the ground. “Killian?” I whispered, but I was met with silence.
With all my might, I rolled him off my body. He let out a pained groan, his eyes clenched tightly. I ran my gaze over his face, before my eyes swept over his body to examine him. From head to toe.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, when I finally saw the reason why he was in pain.
His pristine white shirt was stained with… blood. “Oh God! No!”
I practically ripped open his shirt, searching for the wound. The left side of his stomach was covered in blood. A bullet wound.
Realization slammed into me and my body went so cold, my teeth clattered and I was shaking uncontrollably.
Killian didn’t just save me from getting shot, he took an actual bullet for me.
I was trembling from head to toe when Gideon came back, crouching down next to us. “Are you okay, Julianna?”
“I – I don’t know… he… Killian got shot.”
I could feel the panic rising, like a cluster of sparks going out, flickering in the pit of my stomach. Gideon grasped my shoulders, turning me to face him. “Help is on the way. Calm down, little one. You’re shaking.”
I wrenched myself from his arms and collapsed on top of Killian. I gathered his face into my palms. “Killian, wake up. Open your eyes, please!”
I begged, sobbing.
I pleaded, wailing.
The tears spilled down my cheeks.
My breathing came out more rapid, more shallow. I had to remind myself to calm down, but I couldn’t. Oh God! I tried to slow down the swaying, the spinning world, to do something my brain and my body could cope with. But the numbness took over.
“Killian…”
“He’s going to be okay.” The voice seemed to call out from far away, yet Gideon was right next to me. I couldn’t focus on him.
“He’s hurt. I – he’s hurt because of me.” My stomach heaved and I felt sick. “No, no. No!”
Frantically, I pressed my hands against Killian’s bullet wound. “I have… to… put pressure, right? Right? He can’t bleed too much. If he bleeds too much…. He can’t. Put… pressure. Need to…”
My sentences were fragmented; my voice sounded lost and crazy even to my own ears. “Please… don’t die. Please. Please. Please. You can’t leave me too. Please. Killian… Killian. Killian.”
I didn’t notice that more people had arrived at the scene until arms were grabbing me from behind, pulling me off Killian’s body. He out a small groan, his eyes finally blinking open, but they were glassy in pain. It was almost like he couldn’t see me, like he was lost somewhere else.
“Killian!” I screamed.
But the moment he turned his face toward me, Gideon spun me around. Later, I would realize why he didn’t let Killian see me.
My body felt strange, too numb, too cold, shaking too much as the older man pinned my veil back in place. The pressure on my chest tightened, almost like it was squeezing the life out of me. That was exactly how it felt. Like the grim reaper himself dragging my soul out of my frail body.
I watched as two men helped Killian stand. He said something to them, but I didn’t hear their whispering. They walked away with my husband and my gaze darted to the blood on my hands.
Stained.
Bloody.
Tainted.
Messy.
I tumbled forward into Gideon’s arms, quivering and no longer in control of myself.
My mind was just… empty. Numb.
Darkness shrouded me.
And my body seized up.
Killian
“We found her,” Samuel said, walking into my room with a frown on his face and his jaw locked tight. “In the woods and she’s dead. Gunshot in the side of her head. It looks like suicide, there’s no other explanations. We didn’t find any other footprints in the dirt and there was no one else in the area.”
I remembered the scene so vividly. One second Julianna was bantering with me, and then I saw her. One of the maids – standing about ten feet away from the stables, gun in her hand, pointed at the back of my wife’s head.