We all see it, a snippet of his memory from the first time he saw her. But that’s all it takes: a glimpse of her, and the darkness within the room plateaus, softens.
Ezekial’s gaze brightens as he restrains his beast and sits again. “Maybe, if you’d given me a head’s up, I… I could have...” His voice fades away, gaze becoming glassy, and I know he’s lost to another memory.
“We didn’t know what she was then,” I say, staring at the table. Even though I don’t believe it anymore.
“And you can fuck right off!” I meet Sai’s glare head on. His sudden outburst casts the entire room into a vibrant blue until my shadows reach out to dampen it. “By that point you knew. We all fucking knew. Butyou.” His gaze flares as he stares at me. “You just couldn’t get it into that thick shell of yours that she wasn’t a threat—”
“She was a threat. Shestillis a threat.”
“That, that right there, is the problem!” Sai snarls, teeth bared like a rabid wolf sizing me up. “You kept that from us. You never told us how you felt. You never even told us she could meldminds!” He grimaces. “We’re meant to be a unit, we’re meant to talk to each other. Zeek nearly lost his shit when he found out—”
“Which is exactly why I didn’t,” I bite out. Because it isn’t her power that makes her a threat, it’s that every one of us would burn the world for her. Even me.
That’s what makes her dangerous.
We study one another, each trying to read the other’s next move. Sai’s markings pulse erratically, but he says nothing. He knows I was right not to tell them the night I hunted down the guards and tore out their kneecaps. But it doesn’t make it sting any less that I kept it from them.
Eventually, he settles back into his chair with a loud, frustrated groan, staring up at the ceiling, the veins in his neck prominent.
“We’re just going round and round in circles, again—” Ezekial’s voice is cut off.
“We need to convince her to pick someone else,” Sai snaps. “Kane is the worst possible option. Kane is worse than no one. Ergo, we are absolutely, monumentally, fucked.”
No one.
No one would be better than me.
My darkness coils, something sharp stings in my chest, but I grit my teeth, staring at the side of his face as I spit, “Say it.”
Sai shakes his head, then he leans in close—too close. Enough to count his freckles. My shadows bristle, eager to fight, to release whatever this feeling is.
“What? How I really feel?” Sai’s voice is a dark murmur, the blue of his iris all but consumed by black. “Oh no, mate. That’s why I’ve kept this big wall up for so damn long. Because if you knew how I really felt, I don’t think you could stand to be near me.”
“Try me,fae.”
Julien and Ezekial intervene immediately. My brother takes my left, Julien takes Sai’s right. Hands clamp on our shoulders, grip iron, but we don’t stop glaring.
“We haven’t got time for this, guys.” Ezekial’s voice is still tinged with the dark, but I can feel him fighting it. I’d help, if I wasn’t fighting my own battle. “The meeting’s happening tomorrow, and I’m sure we can all agree that we need to have some sort of plan.”
Just when I thought the verbal dispute might be over, just when I thought I could go back to wallowing in silence, Sai can’t help but open his mouth one last time.
“He doesn’t even know how to talk to people, never mind women. Never mind our girl,” he grumbles, flicking something invisible from the table as his eyes slowly raise to meet mine.
I don’t respond. He’s trying to provoke me.
His lips pull into a small, irritating smirk. “When was the last time you even spoke to a girl, huh? Do you even know how to flirt? Hell, do you know what flirting is?” The smirk falters with each word, his tone shifting from mocking to horrified. “Please, tell me you know how to chat someone up.”
With each question, he gets closer and closer until our noses almost brush. He knows I hate my face being touched. He knows it’s more than hatred.
“If you want to keep your face,” I say, voice low, “back off.”
He stares, incredulous. “That’syour opener?”
He’s pulled back, dragged, by Julien. “Rather than arguing, my dearest friends, shall we return to my previous point?” Julien surveys us all before continuing without any response. “Let us consider why she made this selection. Why not Ezekial?” He allows a pause, his lips tilting into a small smile. “You see, she has made an assumption regarding Kane—one she cannot, with any certainty, extend to the rest of us.”
We wait, and Sai gives two impatient, sharp nods, urging Julien to just spit it out.
“She believes that Kane doesn’t want this. Doesn’t want her.”
