“Now this looks like something I’d enjoy,” a resonant voice claimed. Malakai’s fingers curled against my shoulder.
I took his hand but spun around. “You got my note?”
“We did.” Barrett smiled, genuinely appreciative.
“Thank you for the invitation,” Dax said with a nervous glance around the room.
I wanted to say something to welcome them, tell them to enjoy themselves, but Malakai growled, “Invitation?”
My spine straightened. “I invited them to join us given…recent events.”
With everyone around, I didn’t want to get too involved in explanations, but something had changed during the raid. Barrett hadn’t only given us good intel on the Engrossians, he’d interfered in a fight against his own people to save Malakai.
“You what?” Malakai shot to his feet.
Spirits, part of me knew I was making a mistake when I’d sent the note to Barrett’s chamber. That Malakai would be angry. But he and I had barely spoken in days, and I was tired of the animosity. Tired of placating Malakai’s bias toward the man who did him no wrong. Tired of the Spirits-damned wedge it drove between us, forcing me into complacency. I was ready to be rid of it.
“I invited them here. Tonight is a celebration for all clans. Brokering peace and hope.”
I’d been a coward to not even tell Malakai of my plan. I’d hoped he would be more at ease after the festival, more willing to compromise.
Clearly, I’d been wrong.
He scoffed, indignant, and the malice lining his features wiped away any sense I held on to.
Next thing I knew, I was on my feet, too. “They were kept from the celebrations all day; it’s only fair.”
“How could you?” he whispered low enough that only I could hear, a glower worse than anything he’d ever aimed at me heating the air between us.
But where he was fire, my voice was ice. “How couldI?”
We were no longer talking about Barrett. The fringe of every argument we’d had was unraveling—wewere unraveling—pushing through the rubble of my shattered self. I’d shoved it away for too long. Tonight, with my senses opened to the possibilities of the future, actual happiness having danced through my veins, I was tired of putting my feelings aside.
Maybe it was the energy of the holiday finally getting through to me, maybe it was Jezebel’s recent encouragement, but I was tired of settling for less than I deserved. I’d pushed aside my own shredded heart long enough, tiptoeing over my broken pieces. Even with the Rapture and the Mystique Council, when I’d grasped at my true fate, I’d done so over the fragments of my heart. Never healing them, only sweeping them aside.
Later, I’d told myself. I’d have time to heal later. But broken glass was meant to draw blood; later was not going to come if I didn’t step forward.
Something had awoken within me, and it wanted better than this.
Malakai and I both breathed heavily.
The stare he leveled at me was not only made of fire—it was roiling disappointment tinged with mistrust. It was blooming betrayal and the aftereffects I knew intimately. It was a burning heartbreak piercing through his green irises and the severing of a final strand stretching between us.
The Bind ached as Malakai turned on his heel, slamming the door behind him.
As I followedhim down the darkened corridor, I couldn’t help but remember another hall we’d walked six weeks ago, when my heart wasbreaking irreparably and his footsteps filled mine. That night echoed with betrayals. Now, we bathed in the shadows of their damage.
How life had changed so vastly since then and yet we found ourselves in the same undetermined situation, I didn’t know. All I knew was the pain I’d seen in his eyes, the echo that ripped through my Bind, and the feeling that I was walking into battle without a hint of armor.
The door to our bedchamber clicked shut behind me, locking us and our tempers in.
“Why would you invite him?” Malakai paced in front of the fire, one hand rubbing circles over his chest. I fought the urge to soothe my Bind in the same manner.
“He’s our ally, Malakai.” I leaned against the bedpost, crossing my arms.
“He can’t be trusted,” he spat.
“He’s shown that might not be true.”
