“We’ll need more out of him on how and what to attack, you know,” says Quinn.
“Let someone else suffer to get that out of him. You all have your orders. Let’s finish this fight before it truly begins.” He suppresses a yawn, but everyone notices. I doubt he’s slept well since I left, and I’m exhausted too after spending a good part of last night enjoying each other’s company.
Not that I would complain if we spent tonight the same way.
As we’re preparing to leave, I pull Ronan close. “Give me a moment,” I say, looking at Quinn.
He nods. “I’ll be right outside.”
“Fuck off, Sylvie,” says Quinn, pushing back from the table and wheeling towards the door. “I don’t want to talk.”
She’s halfway into the hall before I reach her. “Just let me say what I need to say, and then you can go right back to hating me.”
She turns her wheels as fast as they’ll go down the hall, which isn’t very fast. The wheels look like they were taken from a carriage rather than being purpose-built, and they don’t glide well. “Imagine I’m storming away from you in a hurry.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Come on, Quinn. Please.”
“Gods, you even sound like him now, laying on the guilt.”
I walk around her chair and stop in front of her, blocking her path.
“Fine,” she says. “I guess neither of us is going anywhere anytime soon.
“Let’s hear it.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Quinn, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything that happened, but I’m especially sorry for what happened to you,” I say in a rush, trying to get everything out before she wheels past me or I start to cry.
“Boring,” says Quinn, rolling her eyes. Her leg twitches as she adjusts herself in the seat, and it humiliates her. She presses down on it hard, trying to make it stop.
“You don’t have to do that. I don’t mind—”
“Well, I fucking do,” says Quinn. “The damn things don’t do anything I tell them to. And when I’m not doing anything,thenthey move.”
“They seemed to do something when you were yelling at Seth.” I hope this isn’t an insensitive thing to say, but there’s a good chance she’ll take anything I say the wrong way regardless of my intentions. Still, I have to try.
“Sylvie, your brother is so fucking annoying that even the handicapped will walk to get away from him.”
I cover my mouth to keep from laughing. “That’s terrible. And so, so true.”
“Butgodsdamnis he hot as hell. I thought Octavia was distracting enough, but then in walked that asshole…”
“Quinn, no. He was nothing but rude to you. He literally hates you.”
She lifts one reddish brown eyebrow. “Is there anyone hotter than someone who hates you?”
I shake my head furiously, trying to get her to see reason. “Quinn, he’s a man. You’re capable of liking people who aren’t men. Don’t turn your back on that gods-given gift.”
For a moment, I think she’s going to say something funny back, but her face goes blank as she realizes what we’re doing. We’ve settled back into our old friendship. She was there for me during the times when I was struggling to find a way to stop the war plans so I could be with Ronan, and we’ve found our way back into that pattern even though she hasn’t forgiven me.
“I don’t know what it matters to you,” she says, her voice going hard and cold. She wheels away down the hall so fast this time that I have to jog to get in front of her again.
“Follow me outside if you must,” she says. “I don’t care. But get in my way again, and I’ll cut you open.” She flashes a dagger at me from a sheath on her waist.
I raise my hands in surrender, and then I follow her out into a courtyard.
It’s the same one where they held the signups for the tournament of sport, the place where we met. The floral vines that line the stone arches and columns are browning now that autumn is setting in, but it’s still almost as lovely as it was a few months ago in the light of sunset.
