“He hasn’t woken up; he seems to be in a deep sleep and doesn’t respond to instructions the way he was before.”
Nash’s words feel like a sledgehammer to my heart. Each syllable pulverizing what I hoped would happen. We didn’t make him better, we made him fucking worse. I step back away from them. I choke on the acceptance I know I need to swallow, but I just hate the fucking taste of it so much.
I really thought it would work.
I look up at them and then around the room. I can’t be here right now. I need to go!
“I’m going to go for a run,” I announce, and then I move out of the room and try to get as far away from my disappointment as fast as I can.
“Vinna, wait,” Enoch calls, but I need to get out of here.
“Just guard my Chosen, okay? Please,” I beg, and I’m out the door before anyone else can say another word.
Sun beams in through the windows that line the hallway, and I easily find the stairs that lead down and out of this fucking useless castle. If I ran the show here, this place would be the first thing I’d tear down. I’d build a house that was normal and functional and didn’t have ostentatiousness vomited over every square inch. Fuck the First House and all these ancient assholes who think somehow their opinions and blood matter more than every other Sentinel within this barrier.
I make my way to the training facility I used the other day and once again wish I was home in my gym with a treadmill that won’t quit and every kind of punching bag imaginable. I stop in my tracks when I find Ory standing solitary at the doors leading into the facility. He looks a little surprised to see me, but it’s gone in a blink, just like every other emotion this guy shows.
We both just stand and stare at each other for a moment before he seems to come to some sort of a decision and steps aside. I reach for the handles on the doors to the entrance and pass by him warily. I’m not sure what his deal is, but honestly with the way I’m feeling, I’d be game to fuck him up once and for all if he tries anything. I step into the facility and don’t hear any of the telltale signs that anyone else is in here like I heard last time I came.
Good. Time to fuck some shit up.
I start to stretch out and loosen my limbs. After sending a zap of Elemental magic into my phone, I turn it on and pull up Bring Me the Horizon’s“Can You Feel My Heart,” letting the lyrics scream me into action. I step into the arena-like facility and start to work out a circuit that will purge the frustration. Just as I’m about to get started, someone drops from the top of the tall wall that I’m pretty sure they practice flying over. They land and start sprinting for the next obstacle when they spot me and stop in their tracks.
I groan, irritated, when hazel eyes meet mine.Fuck my life. Of course this bitch Suryn is here.
I should fucking know by now that Ory is practically her personal guard. Where there’s one, you’ll find the other.
“How did you get in here?” she demands.
“Your boyfriend let me in.”
She narrows her eyes at the wordboyfriend.“Leave,” she commands, and she turns and moves back in the direction of whatever course she’s running, like she just expects to be obeyed.
“Unless you have another place erected somewhere in the city where I can work out, I’m good here, but thanks.”
She goes stiff and then whirls around. Her nostrils flare with anger, and for some reason, I really like that. It feels good to get under this arrogant brat’s skin.
“I said leave,” she orders again.
“And I said no,” I volley back.
“I am the second in line to the Sovereign, and I have given you an order,” she growls.
“I am the first in line toI don’t give a fuck. I’m not yours to command. This place is plenty big enough for both of us. You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
Suryn takes a menacing step toward me, and it’s obvious that she’s fuming. “Who do you think you are, breaching our boundaries, waltzing up in here like you’re owed something, tarnishing everything with your presence?” she seethes.
“First of all, I don’t waltz, it’s impossible to make that look badass. Second of all, from the sound of things, it’s my bloodline that’s due for a little Sovereign time. You may see tarnish but, bitch, I see a glow-up, and this place is in desperate need of a reality check.”
“Oh yes, your reality, where spreading your thighs for filth is for the common good, right?”
I shake my head at her,fucking brainwashed twit. “Careful, Suryn, because your magic seems real fond of that filth you keep referring to. It was real quick to claim the first worthy males it could. Desperate much?”
She takes another step toward me. “Are you going to leave, or am I going to have to make you?” she threatens, and I snicker.
I run my eyes over her frame, sizing her up. She’s a couple inches shorter than me and not quite as muscular, but I know she’s good with weapons, and the bitch can fly.
Sounds like fun.
