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“You lost it?” Apollo was indignant, but it seemed more like indignant on Valen’s behalf.
“Must have.”
“But… But your cross?”
I looked between them. There was obviously some nuance here that I was missing. Something they knew that they didn’t seem to think I needed to know. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have needed to know. Now, with that very cross burning against my skin, I needed to know.
“It’s fine,” Valen said. “I can get another.”
“No, you can’t. I know what it meant to you. There’s no fucking way anything’s replacing that.”
My heart jumped in my chest.
I’d assumed that, like any student at Saint Benedicts, Valen wore a cross because it was the done thing. We got them and never took them off. Were buried with them. But sentimentality only came after years of wearing it every day and it becoming special over a very long time.
Him giving me his hadn’t meant anything more than that it was one-upping Apollo’s ring. The ring I couldn’t wear during class, but the cross I could.
Hadn’t it?
“Just leave it, Apollo,” Valen said, his tone a warning.
“I won’t leave it. Where’d you last have it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Valen snapped.
“Since when? You just suddenly stop caring that your mum’s gone and it’s your dad’s fault?”
Valen’s eyes did slide to me now. There was nothing else about him to suggest it, but that action alone told me Apollo’s words were information I was definitely not supposed to have.
“Leave it,” Valen snarled, his tone a final warning.
“Dude, we can–”
“I said leave it!” Valen roared. “Fucking…” He mumbled as he stalked out of the room.
“Huh,” Apollo muttered, his fingers playing unconsciously with a curl of my hair.
“What?” I asked, trying desperately not to sound too interested.
Apollo shook his head and kissed the side of mine absently. “Nothing. He… He loved that cross. It was the last thing he had of his mum.”
“The last thing?” I gulped.
Apollo nodded. “Yeah. When he was born, she’d done her job. Finally birthed another heir for the Kincaid line after the disappointment of his sister, then the Kincaids were done with her. She took Valya back to the Volkovs and left Valk with the Kincaids. He hasn’t seen or spoken to either of them since. His mum left the cross with his grandmother to give him on his confirmation. That was it.”
It confirmed my theory that the Kincaids cared as much for women as they did for people who didn’t pay them on time.
Apollo breathed in, then stood up. “Ah well, let’s go see how much damage Valk can do.”
I shook my head. “I might just wait in here.”
He looked me over, seemingly only just realising that the first time he’d actually brought me into this part of our world he’d chosen probably one of the most violent things he could have. He nodded slowly.
“Ah, yep. Probably a good idea. I’ll… I should…”
I nodded. “No. You go. I’ll be fine.” I hoped.
He seemed torn, but then nodded and hurried out.
