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“We…” I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. “We were supposed to protect her.”
Only an hour ago, I’d been so furious with him I hadn’t even been able to look at him. When the text had come in, taunting us for not wanting her enough, I’d seen red.
But my own grief was overtaking that now, and I could see the agony in his expression. “I know.”
SIX
VEX
It was a moment I claimed from years of dreams.
I stood in line for hours surrounded by energised fans. But quiet and broken wasn’t how I imagined I would be when I finally met the Crimson Fury pack. I shouldn’t be here, I knew that. Yet, what I clutched in my hands belonged to Aisha, it was pink and glittery, just as bright as she had been. She’d loved their pack as much as I had, literally leaping with excitement when their movies played in my cramped apartment. I smiled, grief washing over me, the pink glitter twinkling through tears.
She’d died for me.
I could get this signed for her.
I was jostled forward in the line, almost at the front, and finally the tiniest spark of anticipation lit. Today, I would meet the Crimson Fury pack for the both of us.
And that was the moment I caught the first sweet hint of caramel brandy.
Silence smothered the world. Movements and sounds were distant echoes.
That truth was sinking in slowly; despair was a fist around my throat.
I wouldn’t survive this.
I didn’t want to.
Water splashed against the bottom of the glass as it filled. It was the only thing in the world. A command hanging suspended in nothingness.
I waited for too long. The water spilled over the edges, wetting my shaking hand, cooling the command as it did.
I could wait like this for a few moments more.
Rainbow prisms danced in the water for just a moment, then the tears faded, as if even they were too afraid.
I jumped at the sound of movement. My eyes snapped to the broad mirror, reflecting the bathroom back at me. Mine was a face I didn’t recognise, even with the golden eyes and silver hair and the peach streak I’d fought for.
All for nothing.
And he was here, too.
Zeus.
When had he come in?
I stared at him with sunken eyes, water still flowing over my hand. He folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe, tucking his phone into his pocket. I lingered on the movement, the sight of his phone stirring something so distant now.
It felt like it had been forever… Zeus still didn’t speak.
They aren’t coming. The whisper in my mind was reassuring now, a lifeboat to cling to.
“Are you going to give me a show?” Zeus asked, dragging my attention back to him.
Those words threatened the cool silence in my mind.
I withdrew the glass from the sink, but when I tried to pass, he shifted, blocking my way. I didn’t know what to make of the look he was giving me, something caught between anticipation and annoyance. He’d been irritated since the moment Triton had swaggered into the room.
