“Fine. Then I will not stick around to witness you fall in love with someone else.”
“Warrick!” she weeps.
“I’m going to get some air.”
“Please, don’t leave,” she begs, standing as if she wants to follow him.
He glances over his shoulder. “With Hux gone, someone needs to patrol the island. I’m going to check on the men stationed around.”
“Warrick,” she pleads, stepping closer in an attempt to reach him.
“I’ll be back later.”
“No,” she snaps.
Warrick’s gaze remains glued to her for a moment. He slowly pans his head toward the open air, and shifts—a trail of white light lingers in his wake. Fen watches the empty space—as if she expects him to return at any moment and apologize—but only the fading daylight and sea breeze drift through that door.
A tear rolls down her cheek, and she slowly returns to her seat, crumbling into the cushions.
Larkin stands. “I’ll go after him.”
Silas nods, watching the balcony.
Larkin walks directly to Fen before heading to the open balcony doors. “You two will be okay.”
“No,” she whispers. “We won’t.”
“Just give him some space to breathe,” Larkin replies, and he leans in and kisses her cheek before striding to the balcony to shift.
Even with two people gone, the room feels cramped—unable to hold the swirling emotions that we all feel. My heart breaks for Warrick and Fenmore, and I dive into my own thoughts, trying to think of anything that can help.
Silas watches Larkin leave in silence, then turns back to Fen. “He is just confused. He doesn’t understand, but this isn’t your fault, Fen.”
“I don’t even understand this, Silas.” She turns to glare at her brother. “And yes, this is my fault—I’m the reason he’s hurting.”
“You aren’t doing anything wrong,” he says, and tries to take a step toward her.
“Oh, I’m just doing exactly what I was designed to do. Well, what if I don’t want this?” Fen sits forward in the chair. “It’s not real—the feelings aren’t real—they are forced. You couldn’t ignore them, but maybe I can. I don’t want to hurt Warrick anymore. He doesn’t deserve this pain.”
Her words swirl in my mind because I have had the same thoughts.
“You can’t blame her for thinking that.”I say to Silas in my mind, then ask, “Are these feelings real?”
Silas snaps his head in my direction and snaps, “Don’t you fucking think that.”
The others go rigid, knowing something just happened that isn’t group knowledge.
I grimace but keep my gaze strong. “Fen is just trying to figure this out like we all are, Silas. It’s normal to have doubts.You know exactly what our first few meetings were like. Give her time to sort this out.”
Fenmore rubs her temples, and I can see how tense her body is from across the sitting area. Her nails dig into her scalp. “I can ignore this. I think I can ignore this if I try.”
Dread crashes into me.
We can’t save Rohhit without her, but I keep my mouth shut. I can’t bombard her right now.
“You can’t, Fen. Even if you wanted to,” Silas warns. “Stop acting this way.”
“I can.”
