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She throws up her hands. “So that’s it then. I sit at home while you and Nik run around and risk your lives. How come I never get to have fun?”
“Because you think my job is fun,” I snap. “It isn’t, Mariya. Everything I’m doing is to keep you safe.”
“And Luna.”
Her name snags in my mind, catching my train of thought. “What?”
“Me and Luna.” She arches a brow. “You’re keeping us both safe, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Right. Sure. The bottom line is, the best thing you can do is stay home and stay out of trouble. Not chasing you around the city to save your ass makes it a lot more likely that Nik and I come home alive.”
She crosses her arms and slouches down in the chair. “I’m old enough to have a job.”
“You want a job? Fine. You can… You can watch Luna.”
“I have been watching Luna,” she mutters, “but since I don’t have a fetish for vomit, it hasn’t been great for me.”
I sit up. “What the fuck does that mean?”
She shrugs. “Luna has been getting sick a lot.”
“I didn’t know she was sick.”
Hope hasn’t said anything. Nik didn’t mention anything, either. If she was really sick, I’d know. Wouldn’t I?
“It’s probably all of the stress. Keeping us both in the dark doesn’t keep us safer; it makes us anxious.”
Luna is sick. Luna is sick and I didn’t notice.
It’s not like I’ve been around. I haven’t seen her in days, except for the glimpse I caught of her in the garden yesterday. As soon as I saw her flash of golden hair bobbing between the foliage, I closed the blinds.
“You aren’t getting sick, are you?” I ask.
Mariya arches an eyebrow. “Please. I grew up in this world. I have a stronger stomach than that.”
“How often is she throwing up?”
“I’m not keeping track. I’m not a doctor,” she says. “If you’re so worried, why don’t you go talk to her?”
I want to—that’s the problem. I can’t risk the distraction, especially now that we’re so close to taking out Akim. I need to keep my head clear. But even when I’m not seeing her every day, she’s in my fucking head.
It’s why I know I’m doing the right thing. Cutting her out is harsh, but it’s for the best.
“I’m not a doctor, either.”
“You’re the reason she’s sick, though!”
“She isn’t sick because of me. She’s sick because she can’t handle this world. She doesn’t belong here.”
Another piece of evidence that I should send Luna back to her old life as soon as possible.
Mariya shakes her head. “You don’t really mean that.”
“You have no clue what I think.”
“If you really thought that, then you wouldn’t be hiding in your office because you’re afraid to see her. After everything you’ve put her through, the least you could do is talk to her.”
I fire back, “If you really think I’m the reason she’s sick, you should want me to stay away from her. That’s the solution here.”
