Page 69 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

Gods, he’s gorgeous.

“You know…” I begin as I plate my food and pick up my fork. “It’s ok not to be strong sometimes. It’s ok to let your family know you’re hurting. Sometimes that’s what they need, so they don’t feel compelled to act strong either. Everyone handles grief differently. And deny it as much as you want, but I know you’re hurting, just like she is, just like everyone else is.”

I look at him earnestly, hoping he understands.

When he doesn’t respond, simply glancing at me for a moment, I break a bit of lasagne off and eat it.

“Trust me… I know. I think I needed that. To see that it’s ok to break. Everyone around me was coping so well; maybe they were just trying to be strong, but they were succeeding. I felt- at times I felt alone. And hated that I was the one who couldn’t cope,” I admit in a whisper.

I don’t look at him, not wanting him to put up a mask just in case he is letting emotion show.

He remains silent, and I don’t say anything else as we continue eating in silence, but it’s a comfortable silence.

Jayce’s phone rings, disrupting our peace, and when he takes it out, I spot that it’s from Ahren.

He answers and puts it on speaker.

“You’re on speaker,” Jayce says.

“Is it just the two of you there?” Ahren asks, his voice devoid of its usual playfulness.

“Yes,” I answer.

“Well, I actually did find something out, but it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.”

I frown; he sounds almost… tense.

“Ahren, what is it?” I ask, my stomach twisting with unease.

“You said the creator of the drakaths was Set,” Ahren says. “Set also created the vampires. But there’s something most records have forgotten. Set was known by another name.”

Jayce glances at me before looking back at the phone. “A Greek name, I presume?” Jayce asks.

“Yeah,” Ahren replies.

Jayce frowns. “Who?”

“Typhon,” Ahren says. “The monster created to overthrow the gods. He hated Zeus. I don’t know when people started seeing him as a god instead of a monster, but they’re the same being.”

A quiet tension settles over the room before Ahren continues.

“And here’s the interesting part. Demons, unlike other species, aren’t creations of a god. Like Typhon, whom the Primordials created, demons were born from Nyx.”

“Primordials?” I ask. “You mean they’re real?”

“There was nothing about them in the tomes either,” Jayce adds, frowning deeply.

“No,” Ahren says. “Because this was a time before the gods and the species they created.”

Silence hangs between us for a moment before he continues.

“I don’t know why yet, but there’s a connection between Set, Zeus, Jayce and us demons. Something ties all of it together. I just don’t know what it is yet.”

Jayce leans back slightly, his jaw tightening.

“I’ll keep searching,” Ahren continues. “But until we figure out what it is, all of us need to be careful.”

I nod even though he can’t see me, my gaze fixed on the phone on the counter.