She was Irishen’s counterpart in other areas, too.Irishen was tall, she was short, he was muscular, she was frail and thin.His eyes were pure shades of white and gray, hers reminded Wave of an exploded pie crust, all oozy and torn.
Okay, so her eyes were a purplish red color, but cherry pie gone wrong was what Wave thought when she looked at them.It occurred to her too late that she was too close if she could see their eyes in such detail.
“What are you staring at?”The woman glared at Wave.She was scowling at everyone close to Irishen, so Wave didn’t take that personally.“Shoo.All of you.I need to talk to Irishen.”
“But I don’t need to talk to you, Elena,” Irishen replied.“I’m here for her.”He pointed at Wave and gave that creepy smile he had used when they first met.Not at all like the other smiles since then.This smile seemed just so… wrong.“Hello, morsel.”
“Hello, Risha,” Wave nodded her head but refused to bow.This was a fucking party, and besides, she just didn’t feel like it.She could feel Elena’s power pushing at everyone she wanted to scatter, but Wave held her place easily.She was quickly forming quite a negative opinion of Elena.
“Irishen!”Now Elena’s tone was whiny, and Wave noticed the corner of Irishen’s eye twitch.
“Not now, Elena,” Irishen barked, looking irritated.
“You’ve been saying that for weeks,” Elena whined some more.
“Maybe you should take a hint then,” Irishen replied with a mean glint in his eyes.
“You can’t be leaving me for her!”Elena screeched.She tried to blast Wave again, and to Wave’s astonishment, Irishen threw an actual fucking shield to block her.Elena’s fair skin turned mottled with rage.
“Control yourself, Elena,” Irishen murmured.“You are embarrassing me.”
“Like I give a fuck about that now.Did you know that slut of yours has been making out with every Powerhouse she can get her hands on?Huh?Still want their leftovers?”
Wave had to give it to Elena, she was excellent at causing a scene and garnering attention.It might even have stung if she gave a fuck about any of them.As long as Elena was shouting at her and Irishen, then Irishen wasn’t wandering off to cause trouble for Diana.
Elena kept spewing more of her accusations, most of them true, and Wave noticed interest in Irishen’s eyes every time she brought up one of the Powerhouses.And he still kept shielding her from Elena’s outbursts.
Why?Wave didn’t trust anything he did, however nice.Sure, she would have to act like Elena’s power was bothering her if he didn’t keep the shield up, but it just felt wrong to let him shield her in any way.
Wave let her eyes wander and noticed that pretty much all eyes in the room were on them.Someone had even turned the music down.Wave didn’t have any way of knowing when Ginny got Diana out of the blast zone, but she doubted it had happened this fast.Getting out of here wasn’t an option yet.
Elena apparently picked up on her disinterest in her ranting, because she turned toward Wave and tried to slap her.Or maybe rake her eyes out.
Wave had told Marc and Grant the truth about her poor attack qualities.She didn’t do any of it gently or small.Even while Elena’s palm approached, Wave’s own power sprang to life.Years and years and years of training had made her default power come from her stormbringer side.
While her siren part wanted to sing Elena’s mind to pieces and make her kiss Wave’s feet, her stormbringer powers preferred brute force when pressed.No single blades of grass, only avalanches.
Elena’s hand connected, and Wave punched back.Her fist sank into the woman’s stomach with an audible whomp, and then little poor Elena was flying through the room.Non-lethal force, that’s all that mattered.
Shaking out her arm, Wave touched her warm cheek but was otherwise unharmed.She, in turn, glared at the slumped figure and then at all the staring partygoers.
“Nothing to see here,” she ground out and then turned to Irishen.“I’d appreciate it if you got your girlfriend under control,” she snapped.Really, what had the little bitch thought?Did she go around slapping people all the time?
Irishen’s cool palm cradled her cheek, and she felt the little sting ease.From outside, the gesture probably looked caring and worried, but Wave could see the calculation in his eyes.
“You become more and more interesting with every passing second, morsel.”
“Not interested,” Wave said, trying to step away.
“Elena is heir apparent to the fire clan throne.You don’t seem to be any more bothered by her than you are by me.Why is that, morsel?”
“I have a thick skin?”Wave pulled her face free.“Your girlfriend is bound to get up soon.You should go check on her.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“She seems to think otherwise.”
“She’s my betrothed, sure, but that doesn’t give her any right to dictate what I do with my time.”Irishen lifted his hand to stroke her cheek again.“I’d very much like to doyou.”
