You’re lying. It’s a farce.
Clenching my jaw, I forced my heart rate to calm and for the ice to take me hostage. Repeating the mantra, I slowly fell under its hypnosis. My back relaxed, the knots in my muscles unthreading. My sweaty palms went paper dry and cold, while my face turned slack with uncaring.
Finally.
The calmness siphoning through my veins was welcome, turning everything frigid and controllable in its path.
Everything about my life since I was fifteen fucking years old was a carefully designed and executed illusion.
Up till now, I’d survived.
I’d buried the true me beneath a man so cold and perfect—even I believed—most of the time.
But every now and again, a hairline fracture would show in my glacier shell.
And my father would notice.
And he would...‘fix’ me.
Until I was old enough to fix myself, of course.
Which I’d done only the night before, so why was I having such difficulty now?
The thawing had happened too fast. Normally, I could pass a few weeks, sometimes more, before I ever needed to be fixed. But Nila Weaver was the sun upon my ice, turning me into a river that wanted to flow and change andgrow. Not freeze and remain forever unmovable.
There was only one course of action to get through her invasion into my senses and survive her stay with us. I just didn’t know if I had the strength to do it.
Shaking away that terrible thought, I prowled forward.
The sounds of men came and went as I passed rooms, and scents of fresh baking from the kitchens made my mouth water.
I almost walked right past her as I moved through the house lost in my thoughts. The sounds of conversation muted my attention, and if it hadn’t have been for the strangest sound imaginable, I would’ve strode right by.
I slammed to a halt outside my brother’s room.
Outside mybrother’sroom.
The abominable sound came again.
Laughter.
Femininelaughter.
Nila’s laughter.
And it wasn’t cynical or full of contempt—it was light-hearted and relaxed.
The lyrical sound twisted my heart, turning my self-pity into fucking rage. I barged into Kestrel’s apartment wing with no knock, no request, and slammed to a halt.
Flaw, Kes, and Nila sat in a grouping of wingbacks, smiling and sharing a good old fucking laugh.
What. The. Fuck?
Kes looked up, his mouth spread into a broad smile. “Jet! Nice of you to join us.” His tone was a direct contradiction to his welcome.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand how my brother—my one ally who knew the truth about me—was antagonising me to the point of ruining everything. What was his deal?
I stupidly felt betrayed—worse than betrayed—provoked.
