Yikes.
The three of us turned to Hunt, waiting for her to say something. Anything.
Please fucking say something, please don’t be pissed at me for this.
“That was out of line,” she said. “Even for you, Jessiah.”
Jessiah opened his mouth to reply, but shut it quickly. “I know it was. I’m sorry.”
She sagged. “Yeah, well,sorryonly goes so far.” Her tone was hollow, full of defeat.
My stomach dropped. I couldn’t even look at her, the tension in the room so heavy my knees buckled.
“I’m going to find Wolf so we can figure out what the fuck to do with this mess. Can you three stay put and maybe not kill each other while I’m gone?”
I quickly nodded, giving my friend the reassurance she needed.
“Great. We’ll be back soon.” She slipped out of the study, leaving the three of us in a very,veryawkward silence.
Until Jessiah opened his big mouth. “I hope you’re happy.”
Goddess above, I hadn’t been happy in years. But I lifted my chin, plastered a tight smile across my face, and said, “I’m pretty happy, yeah. Thanks for checking.”
He scoffed and turned away from me. “You’re un-fucking-believable. Do you know that? You had absolutely no right to?—”
“Do not get on your high horse and tell me what I do and do not have the right to do,” I spat at him. “You’re the one who fucked up. You’re the one who went to The Golden City behind their backs.”
“Forus!” His voice echoed off the walls of the study.
I flinched instinctively and took a step back, bumping into Xavier’s shoulder.
“I did it forus, Rummy! I’m not a dumb kid running around defying every order I’m given. I wasn’t leaving without their permission. I was securing aid in the event we needed it. I did it to help them!”
I gaped at him, too stunned to think of a witty comeback. Jessiah wasn’t one to yell. He got pissed at me, sure, but I’d never seen this kind of anger from him.
“Calm down, both of you,” Xavier chimed in. “It’s been a long night.”
“I don’t even want to hear from you,” Jessiah spat. “You really thoughtshewas a good person to divulge that information to?”
The way he spat the wordshelike it was poison should have hurt my feelings, but I was used to it by now. I was used to the disrespect and disgust and filth that came along with just being me.
“Don’t get pissed at Xavier for not keeping your shitty secrets,” I snapped. “He’s not your fucking dog.”
Xavier sputtered, scrambling for a response, but Jessiah cut him off in true asshole fashion.
“Of course, you’d defend him,” Jessiah shouted at me, his face red. “What’d you do to get him to spill that secret? Promise to fuck him the way you do everyone else in this kingdom?”
“Jessiah,” Xavier warned.
Another strike at the icy, stone wall around my heart. But he wasn’t even close to breaking through.
“What? We both know she’ll spread her legs for anyone, especially if it means she can stir shit up and run her mouth to Huntyr. It’s no wonder everyone says she’s the useless whore who?—”
Xavier stormed past me and gripped Jessiah by the throat. He slammed him against the half-built bookshelf, pieces of wood splintering as Jessiah grunted in pain.
“That’senough!”
I froze in place like a damn idiot. I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to.
