There was an awkwardness in the air.
"Am I missing something here?" Ig asked, picking up on it.
I looked to Sloan and Elva.
"It's up to you, Gray," Sloan said. "Maybe another opinion, another set of thoughts, wouldn't hurt."
"What is it?" Ig asked, getting antsy.
I took a seat and looked at my friend, deciding to bring him into the circle of trust.
"She's not mortal."
"Yeah, and I'm a demigod." He scoffed.
"No. But she is."
Ignacio laughed heartily, and when none of us joined in, he looked at me.
"It's not possible," he said, sobering up.
Elva took his hand. "Mallory," she said simply.
"Of course, it'd be fucking Mallory." He was out of his seat and Elva looked unhappy.
"Don't speak ill of the dead, Ig," she told him sharply. "Especially when it's my family."
Elva's cool tone made him rethink just how much fire he had lit inside, and he sat back down.
"How?" he asked. "How long have you known?"
And so, we filled him in on everything.
Almost everything.
The soulbound knowledge stayed between Sloan and me, and by the time we finished, Ignacio looked like he had the worst headache.
"Why can you never keep things simple?" he muttered.
"Not in my nature," I responded.
"Even this is a bit much for you. Hand her in and be done with it."
I had to stop myself from striking out at Ig. He didn't know everything. I couldn't do what he asked of me. Sending Quentin to her death was a reality I couldn’t bear to think of.
"Ignacio." There was a warning tone in Elva's voice.
"What? You were both at the forefront of it, millennia ago. We didn't have to touch a single one of them when both of you were happy to help bear the brunt of killing them all."
I felt ashamed now, knowing that Quen was one of them. That I’d so easily helped to round up her kin and help them meet their demise.
Elva's face read the same as mine and I wondered if she regretted it as much as I did. I wondered if she regretted not investing more time in Mallory.
"She's harmless," Sloan said.
"She's family," Elva pointed out.
"She's harmless until she finds out what happened to the rest of her kin. And if she has children, Sloan?" Ig asked.
