“My bad, are you okay?” a man asked, his smile bright and warm. His black hair was a tussled mess, eyes like the sky itself. Black tattoos swirled across his tanned neck, his ear was decorated with an orbital piercing and another piercing glimmering in his left brow.
“I-I’m fine!” Ashley stuttered, voice completely changed, even taking a step back.
The man chuckled. “I’m Jaden Moss, the Aetherion who’s supposed to join—” he looked up until his eyes found me behind Ashley. “The flame wielder.”
“Ethalyn Deering,” I corrected. “This is Ashley—”
“Briarsen,” she smiled awkwardly, making me cock a brow at her.
“Lionel, Nate and Eve,” I continued, gesturing to each in turn.
Eve slid in right beside Ashley, almost nudging her to the side. “Eve Miller… So what kind of mage are you?” Her voice was utterly fake, sweet as honey, I had almost forgotten how she was around men she was attracted to.
She must have totally forgotten her hatred towards mages for a brief moment, dazzled by Jaden's looks.
“I’m an earth wielder,” Jaden smiled back, ignoring the aggression building between the two women in front of him. Well, either that or he was just too polite to point it out.
“Is this normal?” Nate pointed at them, looking over at me. “He’s not even that good looking.”
“I’m as clueless as you.”
“Our journey won’t be boring, that’s for sure,” Lionel muttered, brushing through his hair with his fingers.
“It’s my pleasure to join you,” Jaden said, shining too bright for my eyes.
“Why don’t the three of you go pack our supplies?” I asked, holding back the urge to sneer.
“Sure.” Jaden nodded, and neither Ashley nor Eve had the will to deny him, so off they went.
“You’re evil,” Lionel chuckled, nudging me with his elbow. “They’re going to tear each other to pieces within the hour.”
“Want to bet on who survives?” Nate sneered and I chuckled, shaking my head. “Wait until Mey—”
His words died, and it was as if all air had left his lungs. I slowly turned and looked at him, the pain on his face was momentary, yet devastating, but he quickly slid his mask right back on.
“Sorry, force of habit,” he muttered, as he curled his hands into fists, holding himself together.
Lionel looked away as he patted Nate’s shoulder.
“No one expects you to adjust that fast, or even at all,” I said, lowering my voice.
“Do you… blame Eve?” Lionel asked quietly, still averting his gaze.
“I know it was a freak accident, but…” Nate sighed. “Sometimes I imagine putting a bullet into her head, and it doesn’t feelwrong.”
A chill went down my spine at his words, the bloodlust almost pouring out of his eyes.
“We all have, once or twice, right?” I tried joking, but it fell flat.
Lionel frowned at me, slowly shaking his head.
I bit my lower lip, as silence chewed at us for a moment. The last couple of weeks had been the same. There was a need to be careful of every word, of every move, as if walking on eggshells.
One day we had all broken down, weren’t able to be in the same room as one another, because even the slightest glance reminded us of what had happened—reminded us ofher.
“You handled the meeting well,” Lionel changed the subject quickly, noticing the shift in the air.
“Were we at the same meeting?” I muttered glancing over at him and pouting. “It’s been weeks, and this is the first time we actually made any progress.”
