“I put much at risk to come here to give you this warning.”
“Well, your problem, I guess,” I snap, standing and striding toward the door.
“You’ll be back when you’re ready to face the truth.” Her voice stops me. I turn back to her slowly.
“I’d like to send a message back to the Fates.” I flatten my palms against the table and lean in close.
“This is my life. And I intend to do whatever the fuck I want with it. And if they try to come for the people I love, there will be absolute hell to pay. If they need a reminder of what it’s like to feel pain, to feel loss—I am more than prepared to provide that for them.”
Then I wrench the door open and tear into the hall.
101
SERENA
Ifind Jace in the forest, hacking a sword against the trunk of a weeping willow. The metal slams into the bark again and again, leaving behind deep, ugly gashes.?*
“Jace?”
He doesn’t turn as I approach. He just keeps on punishing the innocent tree.
“Jace, please just look at me.”
“I can’t. Not right now.”
Another loud crack as his sword makes contact with the wood.
“I didn’t choose this.”
“Serena, please justgo away.”
“Not until you talk to me.”
His sword meets the tree with such ferocity that the metal actuallybends.
“Fuck,” Jace curses, tossing the damaged blade into the grass and stalking away without a look in my direction.
“Stop.” I grab his arm, pulling him to face me. “Talk tome.”
“I can’t talk to you.”
“Then yell at me! Just don’t punish me like this.”
“You want me to yell at you? Fine. What the fuck was that?” He points toward the castle.
“It’s a long story.”
“A long story?” His eyebrows leap up. He holds up a finger for every word that follows. “‘He’s. My. Mate. It’s three fucking words, seems like a pretty short story to me.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s true. Kylianismy mate—or one of them.”
“There’s more than one?”
I nod. He waits, the hostility in his eyes surrendering to desperate hope. Hope I am about to shatter with my next words.
I think about telling him the truth. Telling him that together we will cause destruction, heartache, death. But I know exactly what he will say. And I know he won’t stop fighting for this until I give in.
And I can’t.
