Damn you all!

In that moment, he hated everyone and especially the gods who’d betrayed him. They weren’t real. They weren’t there. Or if they were, they didn’t care. How could he have ever worshiped beings so callous?

How?

But most of all, he hated himself for his inability to locate Zarya in time to save her life. Hated himself for not being there for her when she’d left this existence.

How could he have failed her so completely?

There was no such thing as justice. Just as there was no such thing as compassion or decency. The universe was dark and it was cold. Life-sucking and demeaning.

Treacherous.

And he’d had enough of it.

Breaking away from Maris, he stormed down the hall, toward the landing bay.

“He took that better than I thought he would,” Hauk said from behind Nykyrian.

But Maris knew the truth. “No, he didn’t. He’s going to his ship right now so that he can make a suicide run for my brother and the League.”

Hauk started cursing in Andarion. “I would ask you to tell me he’s not that stupid. But…” He looked at Syn and then Nykyrian. “We’ve been down this road before and I’ve seen the hell it leads to.” He let out a disgusted sigh. “What happened to our calm, rational little buddy that we raised? You know? The guy who never reacted to anything until after he’d carefully thought it through?”

“He had the shit kicked out of him one time too many.” A tic worked in Ryn’s jaw. “This finally did him in.”

“We’ve all been there,” Nykyrian said under his breath.

Without another comment, Maris headed down the hall in the same direction as Darling. There was no way he was going to let Darling do this alone.

“Where are you going?” Drake called out after him.

Did he really have to explain? “He needs a wingman and point guard.”

“Maris, wait!”

Had it been anyone other than Nykyrian who barked that order, he would have ignored them. But Maris had too much respect for the Andarion prince to blatantly disregard him.

“What?”

“Can you stand Darling down for about twenty minutes? Give us enough time to rally so that you two will have at least half a chance at surviving?”

That wasn’t as easy as Nykyrian might think. In this current mood, Darling wouldn’t be easy to talk sense into. Not that he faulted Darling for that.

The only person he knew who could stop Darling from this stupidity was lying in a League morgue.

Maris fought down his own tears. He’d grown to love her, too. While he’d never had a sister, he’d started calling her one. “I’ll try.”

Nykyrian nodded. “Good luck.”

Yeah, he was going to need it.

Maris ran after Darling, hoping he could catch him before he launched. His heart was broken for him. But worse than that was the fact that he knew Darling would be dead before this day was out.