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“H-he told me.” She stumbled. “When I went to wake him, in his own room.” She waved a spatula at Maddox. “Not all of us are like you.”
I whistled out a breath, then chuckled. “Ouch.”
Maddox winced playfully. “Raiden’s sleeping then?” he asked, turning his attention toward me.
“Yeah.” I played with a piece of waffle at the end of my fork. “We went to bed late. We didn’t talk all night though, not like Nai and Aziel.”
He laughed. “Yep. Raiden’s not the talking type.”
I looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. “What he does say counts more then.” I closed my eyes, losing myself in the way he’d said my name last night, how he’d called me beautiful.
Maddox’s lips twisted in disgust. “I miss when everyone wasn’t as lovesick in this house.”
“I’m not lovesick.”
He shook his head as he delicately ate a slice of bacon. “Denial, girl.”
“What does it matter?” I leaned back in my chair, pushing my plate away. “He’s leaving anyway.”
“Speak of the god, and he shall come,” Maddox said over my shoulder.
I whipped my head around. Raiden’s hair was tousled, a reminder of our night in the sheets. “We’re leaving.” His tone had hardened.
Maddox looked at me, then at Raiden. “We’ll come to see you off.”
“No need. We’ve all said our good-byes.” He didn’t even look at me. “Thanks, Dora, but we need to go.”
Her shoulders slumped. “You should at least eat something.”
“We’ll eat when we’re there.”
I didn’t even want to know what that meant.
Raiden called to Aziel who, in a flash, stepped at his side. “Thank you for all your kindness,” Raiden said, looking at Maddox, then Dora. He carried his gaze over me but did not pause. “Stay safe.”
I stood, screeching my chair back.
Raiden turned with Aziel, and they both walked out.
“Raiden.” My voice croaked.
He was gone. My lips parted as my good-bye remained silent on my tongue. What just happened?
Naomi stacked books that she and Aziel had looked through, I assumed, back onto their shelves, organizing them by color. “So he just left without saying anything?”
I nodded slowly.
Maddox chimed in from the sofa. “It was hard to watch.”
She winced. “Maybe it was just too difficult for him to say good-bye.”
My bottom lip shook. “It didn’t seem that way. It was like he flipped a switch.” I felt the dagger he’d gifted me sheathed to my thigh. It was all I had, a reminder he cared, that what we’d had was real. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone.”
“Now what?” she asked.
We all slumped onto the sofa. It was a good question. Silence hung over us. Our lives had become filled with so much adventure and pain that without it, everything felt a little empty. “I punched your dad,” I admitted finally, needing to break the quiet.
Naomi leaned forward, looking at me incredulously. “You what?”
