Page 312 of Sorrow & Strangers

Which side will I be forced to fight for?

The sun has just risen when Mira yanks open the door. I’m leaning against the doorjamb, looking up at her. She’s dressed in her uniform, but her eyes are flat, with no spark of flame in them at all. She’s still furious with me, and rightfully so. I made a deal with implications we both can’t understand. One that I will be paying for soon.

I push to my feet and grab her arm before she can head downstairs. “Mira.”

Summer’s door opens, but I don’t look away from Mira, cupping her cheek. Her hair and eyes spark with anger immediately at my touch. Her skin still has a familiar, comforting warmth. Fuck, how am I going to survive without it?

“You should have let me die,” she hisses. “What if he doesn’t let you leave?”

My hackles raise. Kept from Mira forever? “Never. I would never have let you die. He has to keep the deal. It is binding on both sides.”

If it weren’t, no one would ever make a deal with Uncle Lu, though it is true that he takes liberties with them. His deals are known to be open to interpretation. At the moment, I have to believe he wants me to choose him permanently, or that I have to choose to be his heir in truth. I’m not bound to Hell like Uncle Lu is, not yet. I have no doubt there is more to this than I know, and far more that Uncle Lu isn’t telling me.

“He’s a trickster. A liar,” she snarls, trying to pull out of my grip.

“There was no other option,” I insist. Yes, the stranger was there, but he hadn’t cleared the field of battle like Uncle Lu could. I didn’t even know if he was capable of it, and I couldn’t take the chance. Mira was screaming. Alice and Summer were in danger. I had to, and even as Mira rages at my decision, I cannot bring myself to regret it. She is here. Her wounds would have been fatal if we hadn’t gotten to her. If the battle hadn’t ended, the stranger wouldn’t have been able to heal her.

“Two years, Rafe.” She pokes me hard in the chest, and her eyes spark with flames, but also mist with tears. As they slip past her lashes, they dry the moment they touch her skin, evaporating into the air.

“I will figure out a way that we can see each other,” I say, stepping closer to her. She refused to tell me why she couldn’t go back to Pyrrhos and use the gateway there to visit Hell. So what I assumed would be easy has become difficult. I don’t know how we will sneak her into Hell for days at a time, but we will figure it out.

“There is no way,” she says, pulling away and glaring at me. Her defeated tone shatters my heart. She doesn’t even want to try?

“There might be,” Summer says quietly. Shit, I’d forgotten she was there.

“I can’t go home.” Mira glances around me at Summer. Her eyes are still hiding secrets, horrors she isn’t ready to share with me. I am struggling not to be hurt by that. She can say she loves me, but still won’t tell me of the pain that lurks in her eyes. I need to be patient, but our time is gone. I am leaving for the summer, for what will be years in Hell time.

“This would be different,” Summer says hesitantly.

A way to see Mira? I’ll take it. We just need more time.

“What do you mean?” I try to keep the hope out of my voice and heart, not wanting to get too high on the possibility. There is still a chance I’d be alone for two years in Hell as heir. Summer’s not looking at me, and my stomach twists immediately when I see where her eyes are.

The halo.

She traveled to Hell wearing Con’s halo this year already. It is possible, but the thought of using Con’s halo makes me sick. It is Summer’s now. She never takes it off. Never. It feels wrong even to consider borrowing it, and the thought of it off her wrist makes my hackles rise. It is an angelic artifact, even when Summer is wearing it.

“I can’t ask you for this,” I whisper hoarsely, even though I know it’s likely my only chance to see Mira for two years.

“I will allow Mira to borrow it. For one week every month that you’re gone.” Summer’s words are shaky, and she’s still idly stroking the gold band. She’s offering this to us, but it’s breaking her heart to consider.

My stomach twists again. I’d get to see her, and Summer would only be without the halo for three weeks total over the break. A short time period, but it still felt wrong.

“Are you sure, Sum? I know what it is to you.” This is like asking her to remove a limb.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she says, her voice a little stronger. Her gaze lifts, locking on mine, fierce determination and familial love shining in her eyes.

She won’t change her mind now, and it would be stupid of me to fight against that, even with how my gut is twisting. I lock my gaze with Mira’s, searching for the sparks I love so much. “Will you come see me?”

“I’m still pissed at you,” she growls, even as I move closer.

“Will you?” I ask again, sliding my hands on her hips.

She looks up at me for a long moment before giving me a slow nod.

“Thank you,” I say, my lips twitching as I lean down to kiss her.

“We’re going to be late for class,” Summer murmurs on her way past us and downstairs.