Darren isn’t looking at Neeve anymore.
He’s staring at me.
Like I put the ring in his hand.
Like I led her here.
The panic remains, raw and wide in his eyes, but something darker has risen beneath it. Fury.
“You.” He seethes.
Oh, shit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“This wasyou!” Darren’s tone makes my blood chill. “You—” He jabs a finger at me. “You talked her into this.”
“Darren—” My fists curl, but Neeve steps between us before the urge to punch him in the face fully takes over.
“No!” Neeve’s voice shakes. “No one talked me into anything.”
“She’s been in your ear all night.” His jaw works and his eyes snap to her, even as he continues to point at me.
“Lyra simply made me realise that I should have made this decision ages ago.”
Darren's focus whips back to me, as if she’s just proved his point.
Fuck. I don’t want to be an arsehole like him, always holding her back. But I don’t want to be the sole reason she enters either.
“Neeve.” I raise my palms. “I wasn’t saying you should?—”
“I know,” she states, not taking her focus off Darren. “But you were right.”
“Neeve, please.”Darren’s voice breaks to barely a whisper, and even though I think he’s being a total prick, the fear beneathhis words still wraps around the softest part of me and pulls until it hurts. “Blood Moon is a fucking lottery. Dragons are rare, and bonding is rarer still. No one knows if there’s a compatible one out there waiting for them, and even if there is, there’s no guarantee they’ll see you as morally worthy. You’re tired, scared from the dreams. You’re not thinking clearly.”
“Of course I am fucking scared. I’m terrified.” She swallows, and for a second, he looks relieved. Then she goes on. “But I know they are out there. The dreams are so strong now and if I don’t enter, I’ll always wonder, and I’ll resent it. I’ll resent you, even if I don’t want to. I can’t marry you knowing I may have given up my dragon because you asked me to.”
“No.” Darren shakes his head, backing away from her like refusing this might undo everything. “No, I won’t let you enter.”
Neeve’s expression hardens in a way I haven't seen before, and my gut knots.
Definitelynotthe right thing to say right now.
“You won’tletme?” Her words land colder than the air around us.
Darren seems to hear them at the same time I do, because his face goes pale. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you meant.” She fumes.
His gaze flicks to me, furious and pleading all at once, then returns to Neeve and his teeth clench so hard I swear I can almost hear them grinding. “I’m not discussing this here.”
“Good,” Neeve bites back. “Because there’s nothing to discuss. I’m entering.”
The silence that follows is awful, and when I glance down, I’ve started picking at my sweater, the right cuff almost fully unravelled beneath my fingers. If I stay any longer, I’ll either unpick the whole thing or step in and start fighting Neeve’s battle for her, and she doesn’t need me to do that. She’s strong enough to hold her own. What she needs is for Darren to stoplooking for someone else to blame and actually fucking listen to her.
Stone crunches underfoot as I take a slow step away, then another. “I’ll give you both a minute.”
Neither of them looks at me as I turn away, but I can still feel Darren’s anger burning between my shoulder blades as return to the camp.
