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“He wants to fight me, remember?”
Oh my God. Now I do. “The duel? Are you serious? After everything that happened, you are going to fight?”
“It’s not up to me. Sindri insisted. Think I want this?” He glances around, rubs his hands together. “By the way, where the hell is he?”
“Ash…” My voice cracks. “You two are all I have left. You and Sin. Jason is hurt, Emrys confused. Don’t fight, please. What we need to do is sit down and discuss everything.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He runs a hand through his black hair. “You think I want to hurt Sindri, punch him, kick him? I… Fuck, it’s too much.”
I reach for his hand, thread our fingers together. “I’m sorry.”
“Having them hate me sucks. I should be used to it by now. Immune. Many people have hated me in my life, and with good reason. But for some reason… this time it matters.”
“You care for them. For the other boys.”
Emotion flickers over his handsome features. “They’re so much… like me. I didn’t think it possible. Hurting them, fuck… It’s the last thing I want. But they’re so stubborn.”
“Another trait you share,” I mutter and when he glances at me, I smile, taking the sting out of my words.
“Yeah. We men are wretched things.”
“Are you quoting Homer at me?”
“Nothing more fitting.” His mouth twitches but the smile fades before it even appears. “Damn, all I can think of is my brother. How to visit him again, how to make sure Aggie is there with him so that he’s not alone.”
I squeeze his long fingers in mine. “She sounded sincere when she said she’d be by his side.”
“Sincere.” He gives a short, bitter chuckle. “Right.”
“Wasn’t she?”
“I don’t know. I know she’s tried to reach out to me before, but I couldn’t trust her… Still not sure I can.”
“What she said, about your father using you… What did she mean?”
His fingers spasm around mine. His mouth tightens. “Long story. Let’s not do this tonight.”
I nod, though it’s frustrating me—all these secrets, all these missing pieces of the puzzle that are these boys, a puzzle that could help us understand who is after them and why. “Sure.”
“Where the fuck is Sindri? I bet that asshole is napping in his comfy bed and I’m out here, in the cold, waiting for him like an idiot.”
Strange that he didn’t come. And something is nagging at me. When was the last time I saw Sindri? When he left Jason’s room last night, I think. “Ash…”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” He glances at the dormitories.
“He was in bad shape last night,” I whisper, “but the fae, aren’t they, like, indestructible or something?”
“Or something.”
Worry tightens its grip on my heart. “We should check on him.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Not surprisingly, Sindri doesn’t answer his door. Ashton bangs on it a few more times, then turns to look at me and tries the handle.
Locked.
“Sindri!” I yell. “Open this door.”
