And lived.
Following the connection I had to Scorpion, I found my other ex-friend being held in an old furnace room. Two fire bulbs flickered above the mainly empty concrete, windowless space.
Scorpion sat in a chair near the door, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle, a gun on his lap. Across from him, handcuffed to a pipe on the cold ground, was Hanna. Leaning against her arms, she tried to turn as much as she could away from him, her lids closed, but I knew she wasn’t fully asleep.
My entrance startled Hanna, her body flinching, going on defense. Seeing me enter didn’t ease her; it only made her grit her teeth more, her eyes sparking with fury and disgust.
“I thoughtyouwere difficult, but your friend here is a grade-A pain in the ass,” Scorpion grumbled under his breath. He hadn’t even looked up at me, probably sensing my presence before I even entered.
“Same to you,fairy,” she shot back.
“I told you. I’m not afuckingfairy.” He pulled his legs in, leaning closer, snarling at her, both glaring at each other. “My family roots areAos sí. Unseelie.”
“What’s the difference?” She rolled her eyes.
To them, there was a huge difference. It was like saying Hungarians were the same as Australians. It was who they were, theirrace, beliefs, and where their powers stemmed from. Humans tend to think Seelie, meaning light, were good, and Unseelie, dark, were bad. But that wasn’t true at all. Queen Aneira was a good example of that. Just one used to live more in the light, and the other prefers to slink through the dark.
“What’s. The. Difference?” Rage boiled under Scorpion’s skin, his hands flexing with aggravation. “Fuck, this one has a mouth on her. One that won’t do her any favors.”
“Certainly not for you,fairy,” she spat.
Scorpion stood up, and I darted between them. “Okay... calm down.” I pushed at his chest, his shoulders rising, his lip curling, his eyes set on the figure behind me. “Scorp, take a breath.” He didn’t respond; his ire was still directed over my shoulder. I took in how tired he looked and realized he was the one who had been guarding her since we first arrived, which was more than fourteen hours ago. “Have you been here the whole time?”
His lips curled, but one shoulder shrugged.
“You haven’t left this room since this morning?” Again, he didn’t respond, but with us, he didn’t need to. I pointed at the door. “Take a break. Get a drink and something to eat. Has she eaten?”
“She threw it in my face,” he grunted, his attention flickering down to the stain on the ground. It was an oil splotch from the potato soup. “Next time, I’ll force it down her throat.”
“I dare you, fairy-boy,” she seethed, the cuffs scraping against the metal.
“Don’t tempt me, blondie.” He stepped forward, bumping into me.
“Go!” I pointed to the door. “Take a walk. I got it.” Scorpion’s eyes dropped to me, and, again, without saying a word, I felt his concern. “Believe me, I’ll be fine. She’s latched to a pipe, but also, I always kicked her ass in training.”
She snorted with a derisive breath.
His gaze went to her, taking in a breath, contemplating before his head dipped. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” He pointed at her. “You do one thing, you even blink at her wrong, and I will use your bones to pick food out of my teeth.”
Her scowl followed him as he stomped out of the room, the door slamming, echoing the quiet, awkward silence inside.
Her hatred turned on me, her jaw locking down.
Blowing out, I grabbed the chair, pulling it closer.
“And here I didn’t think Scorpion liked anyone.” I sat down.
“And as usual, every man is bending over and pining for you, fae or human doesn’t seem to matter.” A pointed, spiteful tone curled around her words.
“What does that mean?”
“Please.” She glowered at me. “Like you didn’t notice. Actually, knowing you, you didn’t.” She shook her head. “Every guy you got near was drawn to you like they were in a trance.”
The term stabbed into the back of my neck like a needle.Drawn. It was the word they all used, like they had no choice.
“Every guy in our training group had a crush on you. You know Aron was secretly in love with you, right? Bakos adored you. Caden worshipped you. Princes, lords, nobles. Fae don’t seem immune to you either... even Istvan let you get away with almost anything.”
“Istvan?” A bubbled laugh came up from my throat. “He wants me dead.”
