Rafe groaned out loud, and thankfully no one was close enough to hear him. The puddle of a woman that was Lena Iykos had somehow found the power to not only stand, but storm across the room, heading right for Rafe.
She only slowed when shadows bubbled up from the stone floors around him, clearly having sensed a threat in her.
My own affinity began to rumble, and my stomach dropped violently as I scrambled to pull it under control.
Rafe had taken a step forward to meet Lena, but paused, sending me a concerned glance over his shoulder.
I hadn’t held back that rumble in time.
He narrowed his dark eyes at me.
You have some explaining to do,he said.
I nodded in agreement, because there was no lying to him, and he turned back to face the Iykos’.
Lena suddenly burst back into tears as if she’d just remembered she was grieving.
“You have to do something!” she wailed, crumpling into Rafe’s chest, her hands fisted on the collar of his shirt. She sobbed wildlybefore crying out, “Why would they kill him?! What did my sweet Landon do to anyone?! Oh, prophet help us!”
For some reason, I looked up at that moment and met Coach’s eyes. He was across the room, standing with a group of faculty around one of the fancy coffee machines, though he didn’t have a cup. He raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly, and something told me it was in reference to Lena’s comments about Landon.
Of courseshe thought her son was a sweet kid. Every mother did. My mother would have said the same thing up until a few weeks ago when Willow called her and told her I’d rejected Skye. Rafe’s mother thought he was God’s gift to the earth.
I eyed my friend again. He didn’t look too good. Dark circles under his eyes stood out against his darker skin. He seemed a little pale, his lips a little wan.
Rafe wasn’t doing too good.
I scrubbed a hand down my face.
I wasn’t doing good either, and something told me neither of us would feel better until we were able to see Skye. We were both a little screwed on that front, though.
Skye had finally shown her cards.
And she’d picked Aiden.
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Iykos.” Rafe said, sounding very official. “This is a massive tragedy. The cause is being investigated thoroughly.”
“Is it?!” She tightened her grip on his collar, and again, my affinity rumbled in warning. Only Rafe seemed to be aware of it, though. “We all saw you assault the lead investigator. Why would you do that?!”
Rafe only blinked a few times as she went on.
“I don’t think you’re investigating this properly at all. I think the Crown doesn’t care that an attack has happened at one of their academies. Your mother hasn’t said anything about this yet, and I know she knew about it last night if you’ve been here that long!”
Rafe winced. She had a point, even if Rafe was only here because he’d been saving Aiden.
“Mrs. Iykos, I can assure you we’re doing everything we can. My mother is aware and is making proper arrangements–”
“I don’t believe it!” Lena shrieked, and I’d had enough of this shit. “Now they won’t let me see him! What are you hiding?!”
“He punched that investigator because he left the dead students out in the rain all night. Did you know that?” I snapped.
Lena’s focus shifted to me, and her eyes widened slightly when she realized who I was.
Usually, I hated how much I looked like my father. But now? Now, I was glad for the reaction it caused.
“No,” she replied in a hushed whisper. Some shadows snaked up Rafe’s chest and gently untangled her fingers from his shirt.
“That investigator was a fool. He left Landon out in the rain, not even covering him until this morning. You won’t see him for a while because they have to prepare his body. I saw him this morning, Mrs. Iykos. You don’t need to see your son like that.”
