“He is one wrong word away from losing it, though,” she argues.
“Depending on the words said, possibly. What more than likely will set him off is everyone trying to fix him or really, his grief for him. He just wants to be angry right now, and he wants others to be angry with him.”
“What makes you assume that?”
I purse my lips at her and scoff before taking a sip of coffee.
Assume…she’s so silly.
“There’s no assuming. If there’s one thing I know, it’s living in constant anger. I used to fucking hate it when people would look at me with such pity in their eyes anytime my parents werebrought up, followed by Meridamus, or when they saw a black eye or new bruise. I didn’t want sad smiles. I wanted them to treat me like an adult not an orphan or get mad on my behalf because I was getting the shit beat out of me.”
My eyes grow distant, thinking about how Mrs. Armend and some of the other ladies would take their morning walks. They’d stroll right past me as I stomped home from the training arenas and give me thosesmiles.
Ugh. It still makes me grind my teeth.
I blink and jerk myself out of my head.
“That’s what Sevryn’s looking for. Someone to stand with him and meet his anger. That doesn’t mean feed into, but yeah, when he goes on a tangent about wanting his father dead, say, ‘Fuck yeah, he deserves to die.’”
I do a double take at their silence, then sneer at both of them.
“Those fucking looks right there. You’re both looking at me like you want to hug me.”
“Do you need a hug?” Rose asks, and I roll my eyes.
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You’ve—”
I press my finger to Yemi’s lips. “I don’t think so. You aren’t changing the subject. We all know I got a parchment full of shit going on and you both know it all. I want to know what’s going on in your lives. How’s life with four boyfriends?”
She playfully swats me away and huffs as she glares at Rose’s giggling.
“I don’t have four boyfriends officially, thank you.” She pauses, smirking at our begging gazes. “I have two officially, working on the third, and the fourth…his intentions are clear, but that’ll take some time.”
Rose and I squeal, and Yemi doesn’t find amusement in that whatsoever. I clear my voice and calm myself down.
I’m so thrilled it isn’t just me dealing with all these men.
“Sevryn and Doren are obviously the official ones. Iric, I’d assume is the third, and Nero fourth?” I ask.
“Yep.”
“You’ve got so much to fill us in on. Don’t hold back, just let us hear it. We’re all ears,” I say.
Rose and I lean closer to her, I swear feening for her to spit it out. She scowls at us playfully but gets comfortable right alongside us.
“Well, as we’re all painfully aware,yourValtrue member drugged us, dragging up some of our truths.”
I force my chuckle into a cough. “Yep. I do. Still sorry about that, by the way.”
She looks as unconvinced as I sound.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that conversation really did do wonders for Sevryn and Doren. Sevryn quit with his bitching and possessiveness, and sort of…welcomed Doren in if that’s what I wanted. At first, I did but didn’t. Like I told you, to me, it felt like he was trying to be too perfect when he first arrived.
“I still can tell that he hasn’t been completely open about things, but I’m not pressuring him into telling me everything that happened to him prior to faking his death. I just needed to make sure first this whole loving, happy-for-everyone persona was real.”
“And?” I ask.
