Page 74 of Stormbreaker

I can’t be the reason people suffer.

I’d accepted my duty to my city and Society, but I never thought about how it would feel to find something, or someone, I could never have.

I let out a sigh. Does it really matter? The way Rook looks straight through me every time our glances meet suggests my misplaced interest is entirely one-sided anyway.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Poet. Control the things you can.

I can’t have everything I want, but I can become a Breaker. I grit my jaw and force my rubbery arms to complete another ten reps for Henry.

“Great job!” he says and helps guide the weight back to the rack. “Now, let’s work on your quads.”

I smile back and move into the next exercise.

Finally, the hour is up, and Henry leaves me with a schedule of what to work on for the next week. Weight training is four days a week, with another two days of cardio and one rest day, with stretching or yoga every day. This is a lot, but I’m determined to keep up.

After a quick shower in the locker room, I’m off to history, finishing the day with an hour of math. By the time I return to my room, I’m so exhausted I can barely move.

I open the door to find Trinity alone, tapping away on her phone while she lies on her bed.

“Hi,” I say. “How are you? What have you been up to today? I saw you talking to someone earlier.”

She looks at me, and I can tell from her bloodshot eyes that she’s been crying.

“What happened?” I ask, my questions forgotten as I cross the room and sit on the edge of the bed.

She shakes her head and shows me the messages on her phone. They’re from her parents. They aren’t cruel, but they aren’t particularly encouraging, either.

“They said I needed to pass my next two tests or . . .”

Tears roll down her cheeks as she clutches the device to her chest.

“Or what?” I’m genuinely curious what they plan to do. Mr. and Mrs. Robins have always been kind to me. They’re fair and reasonable, even when Trinity and I were causing trouble.

“They’ll disown me,” Trinity says. “My sister will become an only child.”

I sit with those words.

“I don’t get it,” I say.

“What?”

“How can our parents raise us for our whole lives, then just . . . reject us because of this? Why are we all so convinced this is the only way?”

“Poet, what are you saying? Of course this is the way. Without Society we become like they did in the Warming Age, with no order, no discipline, leading us down a path to destruction.”

I chew on my lip as I stare out the window. The skies have been quiet this week, which has been a relief, but I sense another storm brewing in the distance.

“Yeah, I know that’s what we’re all taught.”

I push up from Trinity’s bed and walk to the window, noting a distant flash of lavender on the horizon. Thankfully, it’s recent enough since I absorbed my last dose of Spark that I’ll be able to weather this one inside.

“Poet?” Trinity asks, and I turn around. “What am I gonna do if I fail?”

She stares at me with watery gray eyes, and her sincerity guts me. She has no clue what comes next, but neither do I. I wish I could give her the answers she seeks. I wish we could return to the old days when we were two little girls worried about clothes and parties and not much else.

But those days are over. Our innocence was stripped away the moment we were asked to kill a man with our bare hands.

“I don’t know, Trin. I don’t know.”