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“I gave her a vague idea of what was going on.” I close my hand, feeling the chill of the mark against the inside of my fingers. “She doesn’t know I’m taking on some of her guilt, though. If I told her that, she would’ve never made the promise.”
He glares at me. “You like her.”
I lift a shoulder. “As a friend, sure.”
“No, you fucking like her—I can tell. And I know that means something since you’ve never really liked anyone, at least enough to make a damn blood promise with them.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re looking too deep into this, man. I’m not that deep of a guy—you know that.”
“No, I know you pretend not to be,” he says, “But deep down, there’s more going on with you then you let on. And usually I’m okay with letting you be. I figure if you want to talk about it, you will. But it’s pretty damn clear you have feelings for Sky and the fact that you won’t admit it is annoying.”
His accusation makes the muscles in my jaw pulsate. He’s getting too close to the truth and it’s annoying. No, what’s annoying is all of these emotions trying to emerge inside me.
“You know what’s annoying?” I say. “The fact that you’re more focused on my feelings instead of Porter’s. He’s the one who has his soul tethered to Sky’s.”
“His connection to her is because of magic,” he snaps. “You felt something for Sky before this link was altered.”
His accusations are irritating the shit out of me and making me feel too exposed.
I rise to my feet. “You know what? I came out here to check and make sure you’re okay, but clearly you just want a punching bag. And a tree will work just fine for that.” I move to leave, but he jumps to his feet and blocks my path.
“No, you don’t get to leave,” he snaps and so does a bolt of lightning across the sky. “Not until I hear you admit that you like her.”
I should try to calm him down. Clearly, he’s losing control over his powers, which can be dangerous, but he’s got me too pissed off to care.
“Why does it even fucking matter?” I ask as rain begins to pour down from the sky and flood the ground. “Whether I like her or not, it’s never going to go anywhere, so what’s the fucking point of making me say it?”
His hands clench into fists as he says in a low, shaky voice, “Because it’s driving me crazy that no one will admit anything. You’re all being a bunch of damn liars.”
I shake my head in annoyance. “We’re lying to protect you.”
“Well stop,” he bites out. “And just say the damn truth.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Fine. I like her.” As soon as the words leave my lips, panic zips through my body. “There are you happy now?”
He looks utterly miserable as he shakes his head. “No, not really.”
My shoulders slump as his miserableness slips through the link. “Well, neither am I so at least we’re on the same page.” I rub my hand across my forehead. “Look, I know this is hard for you, but you really need to stop stressing out about it because at the end of all of this, no matter how any of us feel, the fact of the matter is Sky and you belong together.”
As he takes in my words, the rain slows down to a drizzle. I peer up at the clear sky, then back at him, relieved to see that some of the anger has vacated his expression. Figuring I’ve gotten through to him, I start to relax too.
But then he looks at me with a defeated look on his face. “That’s the thing, though. All of this—the altered link, us being able to make a portal into Enchantment—her being a power source… it’s all new territory for everyone. And no one really knows how Sky works since she’s the power source on top of being an elemental enchanter, so who’s to say that she can’t just be with an elemental enchanter.”
“Her kiss killed Brody,” I remind him. “And wounded that human guy at the party.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t linked to her, were they?” he says with a raise of his brows. “And if you really think about it, your guy’s feelings toward her have already kind of crossed a line. Sure, neither of you have actually kissed her, but you’ve felt stuff toward her that should’ve made her powers have an effect on you, yet they haven’t.”
As his words sink in, I shift my weight. What if he’s right?
But then I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. None of us are going to test out your little weird, and probably incorrect theory, not only because it’d be dangerous, but because we wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
“You can’t always control how you feel about someone,” he says in a defeated tone. “Trust me, I know. I had feelings for Sky before I thought I could be with her.”
I’m not sure I agree with his logic, since I’ve always been damn good at controlling my emotions.
“You can pretend all you want, but eventually you’re going to have to deal with what you’re feeling,” he adds as if he can read me. “And I’m going to have to too.”
Quietness stretches between us as I realize he’s right, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. If anything, it makes it harder. While I’ve known I’ve been developing feelings toward Sky, in the back of my mind I always thought it could never go anywhere. But now with the spark of a possibility that it could…
