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Angry.
It was coming for me. It was coming for all of us.
I jerked awake with a stifled shout, my hand flying to my chest as I sat up in bed, scattering papers everywhere.
“Fuck,” I choked out in a low voice. “I can’t do this.”
The horror of the dream lingered at the periphery of my consciousness, and although the specifics were already beginning to fade, one thing still stood out starkly: the worry I had felt for the three men.
Men I was falling in love with.
My heart thudded against my ribs as I threw off the covers and climbed out of bed, padding across the room on bare feet. Grabbing my robe, I wrapped it around me and tied it to the side as I quietly opened my door and slipped out into the dark hallway.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I couldn’t take the thoughts and feelings cascading around in my head with no way to get them out. I had to tell someone what I was thinking. I had to share my suspicions with someone. I couldn’t tell Eden, I didn’t want to get her caught up in all of it, and I didn’t want to scare her either.
And if I was being honest, there were only three people I wanted to tell. Who I trusted enough to tell.
Time to jump off the cliff, Aria.
No one was up and about, and since we were all adults, it wasn’t like they patrolled the hallways at night. I headed down to the male area of the dorms, glancing at the numbers, trying to remember which one was Trace’s. After about ten minutes, I finally figured it out.
Quietly, I tapped on his door several times until I heard the springs of his bed bounce and his feet shuffle across the floor. He opened his door slowly, his hair a mess, the dark locks disheveled from sleep.
“Hey.” It was hard to speak, since my heart had decided to try to crawl up my throat. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
Trace’s eyes widened, the fog of sleep fading as surprise took its place.
I watched his face, seeing something else flash across his expression.
Was it… relief? Maybe.
Whatever it was, it was mixed with a bit of heat. I knew that look all too well. I could still see it imprinted in my mind from the cave. No matter how bad I felt about everything else, that was one memory I never got sick of replaying in my head.
“Aria? What are you doing here?” he asked me, looking up and down the halls. When his gaze landed on my face again, his brows furrowed. “It has to be at least midnight. Shit, Ari, you really need to start sleeping. Every time I see you, you look like you slept a little worse the night before.”
The concern in his voice hit me right in the heart, and when I opened my mouth to speak, everything I’d been about to say—my suspicions about the Gods’ Challenge, about the students’ deaths, about the conversation I’d overheard outside the school—vanished from my mind.
There was only Trace, and the worry shining in his blue eyes.
Suddenly I was moving, my hand coming up to hook the back of his neck. I pulled him toward me, tilting my head to the side and pressing my lips hard against his. It surprised him at first, and he went stiff, but it only took a moment for the chemistry between us to reignite.
His scent was so familiar, and his lips were so soft.
As soon as that familiarity hit me, I relaxed into him, opening up my mouth as he beckoned for my tongue. There was a relief to it, more than just the breaking of sexual tension—it was a connection.
I had needed this.
I had missed it.
In that moment, I felt like myself again.
Like the Aria who could tackle the world, the one that had no fear and was ready for anything. I put my hands on his chest and pushed forward, moving him into his room.
I didn’t disconnect my lips from his. I couldn’t even bear to think about it. Instead, I used my foot to kick the door closed behind me as I wrapped my arms around him in the dark, feeling his body press against mine.
“Fuck, Snow. Thank fuck you came back to me. I missed the hell out of you.”
