I wipe under my eyes, straighten my spine and rebuild the armour piece by piece until there’s nothing soft left to see. Standing up, I walk out of Roman’s room and straight into a wall... no, not a wall. Atlas.
“Where are you going?” he asks, his eye narrow as he looks at me.
“Out.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I’m meeting Quinn.”
“Alone?” His jaw tightens.
“Yes.”
“Fae—”
“I’ll handle it,” I cut in.
My voice is steady even though I feel anything but. “I can’t deal with anything else right now.”
His expression softens at that, before he nods once.
“Be careful.”
Outside, the sky is already bruising into night. I get into my car and shut the door. The silence is immediate and suffocating. Normally, I’d turn the music up, playing it so loud it drowns out the voices in my head. Tonight, I don’t, because nothing could drown this pain away.
Roman’s face replays behind my eyes. The hurt. The anger. The way he said, you don’t love me. My chest tightens so hard I have to inhale through my teeth. I do love him. I love him so much that the thought of him sacrificing himself for my safety is too much to bear. I have lost my mum. I’ve lost my best friend. I cannot, no, I will not, be the reason we lose him too.
The road narrows the further I drive. Streetlights disappear. Trees swallow the horizon. Gravel spits under my tyres as I turn onto Old Mill Road. The barn rises out of the dark likesomething long forgotten. It has been abandoned for years, the wood warped and sagging as if it has been holding its breath. The metal roof is streaked with rust, eaten through in places and there isn’t another car in sight. All that is here is open land and silence, stretching too far in every direction.
My foot eases off the accelerator.
I put my car in park and the engine cuts off as the quiet folds in around me. I take a deep breath before I step out. The loud slam of the car door rings across the deserted field like a gunshot. The air feels colder, damp enough to cling to my skin and smells like earth and rot as though something has been left too long without light.
A few feet from the barn doors, as if she’s been waiting for a spotlight to find her, Quinn stands with her shoulders back. Her blonde hair barely moves in the breeze. She is wearing a pale coat that is cinched at the waist, hugging her frame like she dressed for an entirely different occasion.
Weirdly, she doesn’t even look out of place. She looks intentional. Like something carved from porcelain.
Or bone.
“I’m glad you could make it,” she says smoothly.
I say nothing. I don’t trust my voice. She tilts her head, studying my face. I wonder if she can see the bruise in this light, or the exhaustion. Can she see the heartache infecting my skin?
“You look awful.”
That answers that question.
“Get to the point,” I snap as a faint smile curves her lips.
“You’re ruining his future.”
“I know,” I respond.
I don’t need to be told whoheis. I know. And she knows that I know, although clearly that isn’t the response she expected, as her brows lift slightly.
“You are a poison to him,” she continues. “You always have been.”
“I know,” I repeat. “You can have him,” I say flatly. “I won’t fight you anymore.”
