My world stills, the missing piece I’ve been searching for taking root in my soul.
“What if there were more words I wanted, more specific words?” I clarify, my chest tightening as I dare to walk the tight rope that continues to leave me torn in my mind.
“Like what?” he asks, the uncertainty clear as the air stills between us, like he can sense the question on my lips from simply looking into my eyes without a single word being spoken.
I clear my throat, but it does nothing to alleviate the tension inside me. Connecting to the wave of strength flooding my veins, I embrace the so-called phoenix ego and speak.
“Why did you reject me?”
The want from his embrace is gone as he rears back, shaking his head.
“Ivy,” he rasps, but I'm already over it, lurching away from him as I swing my legs over the side of the bed. I put some much-needed distance between us, silently thankful for the fact that I fell asleep in my clothes last night. “Anything but that,” he states, and I sigh, rising from the bed with defeat already curling through my veins before the day has even really begun.
Glancing over my shoulder, I let him see the truth in my eyes, not needing his touch to confirm it.
“I’m acutely aware it's the only thing looming over my head when it comes to you. It's the reality that shattered me, and I'm never going to see past it without answers.”
There it is, the truth.
I want to forgive and never forget, just like I told Greta and the girls, and to do that, I have to know, but all I receive is silence as he sits up in bed, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, Ivy.” He at least has the decency to hang his head.
“Me too,” I grumble, hurrying to my closet to change.
This might be my space, but I need the air, and I assume kicking him out won't be necessary because he's gonna leave of his own accord. Because it’s easier to do that than give me what I want.
Throwing on a pair of yoga pants and a loose tank, still disheveled, my hair a wry mess, I pause when a shadow casts over the door, and I glance over my shoulder to find him leaning against the door frame.
His muscles are tense, his jaw grinding as he speaks. “A meeting has been called,” he states, and I huff, irritation flooding through me.
“When?”
His tongue sticks out, glossing across his lips.
“Now.”
I nod, brushing past him as I move out into my room. “I’ll meet you there,” I state, and he sighs, giving me a pointed look that I'm all too familiar with.
“You know that's not going to happen”, he confirms, and the irritation that floods through my veins is palpable as I narrow my eyes at him.
“Archer,” I start, watching as he hangs his head again, but it’s the way he lifts his hand that confirms his defeat first.
“Baron is on his way.”
Dartingout of the Fire Protector dorms, I find Baron leaning against the exterior wall, and I take a moment to inhale the cooler air in hopes of calming my temper as I take him in. He's wearing black jeans and an even blacker t-shirt that molds around his muscles, as if that's what it was specifically made to do.
His hair is secured at the base of his neck, and that irks me in a way that makes me want to unravel it. Despite the pointed look on his face, I never thought I would prefer to see him over the others, but I'm resigned to the fact that I can't be left unattended, and when it comes down to it, Archer is the last person I want to see right now.
Without a word, he takes off, and I fall into step at his side.
We walk to the arena this time, in the opposite direction from the location of the last meeting, cutting through campus over by the cliffs. When he comes to a stop, he squeezes the back of his neck before he speaks.
“We've got a few minutes spare, do you mind saying hi to Alaric, so he knows you're okay?” he murmurs, and for the first time this morning, I'm flooded with excitement.
“Of course.”
There’s a new pep in my step as I walk faster at his side until I see the familiar shimmers of Alaric's scales. The smile on my lips as I come face to face with the giant dragon is the most real one I’ve felt in forever.
