Cyrus nodded.
“Good.” And Stone released his throat and swung a right hook into the side of Cyrus’s jaw, sending him to the floor.
“Aw, fuck. I told him not to do that,” Beck groaned.
My hand flew to my mouth.
Cyrus lifted himself up, pinning his back to the wall and looking up at me, his lip bleeding. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me, shirtless and in a pair of athletic shorts. He watched as Stone wrapped me in his coat, took my hand, and guided me out onto the balcony, where a bag was already waiting.
Once we were outside and back on solid ground, Stone was quiet with one hand shoved deep into his pocket, the other carrying the bag. He led me off the property until we were farther down the street.
The rest of the Heathens walked ahead of us, but Stone stopped, dropped the bag on the street and unzipped it.
“Stone, what’s happening?” I asked, having not heard a word from him since we left Cyrus’s bedroom.
He still didn’t answer, handing me shoes, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, a jacket. I was trying to slip them on over my pajamas as fast as he was handing them to me. His silence was scaring me.
“Talk to me,” I pleaded.
He bounced to his feet and came inches from my face. “I can’t!” he seethed in a whisper. “I’m so sick over it, I’m afraid to speak, Adora. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you. I’m afraid I’ll lose you. I’m afraid to bloody blink because if so, everything may come crashing down inside me and explode around me, and I’m afraid that if that happens, it’ll scare you away for good.” He looked away as he tried to calm his breathing. Seconds passed, and then, “We know how to defeat the Shadows, and we need your help, so let’s get on with it.”
“That’s not fair. We both knew this could happen.”
He looked at me in disbelief. “It is quite simple, darling. The pain between whatcouldhappen and whatdidhappen is much larger than one imagines. Icouldlose a finger tomorrow. Icoulddie. Icouldfuck ...” He let it die, either unable to finish or knowing it was wrong. “You can prepare as much as you’d like, but the way I feel at this moment is not from an event thatcould’vehappened.”
We stared at each other until our breathing became steady.
Then he turned his eyes away.
“They threatened me,” I told him in a whisper. “They know how I feel about you, and they’re using it against me because ... you are my weakness.” Stone was facing the opposite direction, gripping his hip bones and hanging his head, but I knew he was listening. “Stone, I told Cyrus about us before the bedding ceremony. He knows. I told him everything, and that you are my husband. He respected that as much as he could through it and he will continue to do so because he is a good man.”
Stone turned, his gaze swinging to me. Surprised. “You told him?”
“Yeah.”
He exhaled, relief crossing his features as his arm dropped to his side.
“Thank you,” he said.
This mattered to him.
It wasn’t that he wanted Cyrus to know who I belonged to. Stone wanted me to be honest, to be better, to do things right this time.
His posture relaxed a little. “Are you warm now?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Stone snatched up the bag, and we resumed walking in silence.
Half an hour later,we were staring at the underground spring in the Forbidden Cavern. It was surprisingly warmer in the cave, and the spring was black and depressing. Light from the gas lamp reflected off the spikes hanging from the ceiling, and water droplets dripped from their ends. Aplop ... ... plop.
“What are we doing here?”
Beck began to shrug out of his jacket, sparing a glance at Stone, who was standing behind me. “There’s a broken sapphire at the bottom of the spring. Romeo here thinks you’re the only person who can get it.”
I turned to face Stone. “Why would Romeo here think that?”
“Because,” Stone scratched the back of his head, “it says so in your mother’s book.”
