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Unblinking and unmoving, Silas and Abram stay in a silent standoff. I know they both heard what he said before he left, we all had. But like any honorable soldier, he sacrificed himself for the greater good.
“Throw Hardin in my face again like that and see what happens,” Silas rasps out.
“Or what?” Abram snickers, unintimidated. “You already have nothing.”
Silas’s eyes come alive, beating as they pulsate for a second too long. Whipping around, he follows after Sgt. Daniels with his jaw locked firmly in place.
Leaving the rest of us to deal with nothing but the scorched atmosphere of his wake.
twenty-two
Rory
Iceman:It’slate,youshould be asleep.
I suck in a sharp breath as my head snaps up from my phone. Cole texted but I know he’s here. I can feel him, the more the goose bumps spread, prickling the back of my neck.
He’s found me.
This shouldn’t be anything new, still, it somehow catches me off guard. Maybe, it’s because of where I am currently. The space we both now occupy, together.
I’m not upset about it though; it brings me a twisted sense of peace. For so long, I thought I was alone, but not anymore.
The truth is I’m afraid.Terrified.
Could be how I ended up here after Hailey dozed off. I thought a run might help but ultimately, I decided against it. Lorna is out there somewhere, and I didn’t feel like waking Finn to go with me.
I came here instead, Iceman finding me. This… wonderland has always brought me peace so I was hopeful its magic would work again tonight.
Weave its way into my subconscious and give me some ease. Lessen the strain.
Tonight, the room of glass walls and fragmented reflections doesn’t disappoint. It carries its normal gift of serenity. The continuous trickling sound of the fountain runs tranquil. Nourishing the flowers and adding to the already beautiful room.
Being inside my glass house and with him makes me feel protected. Them both equally helping my jittered nerves.
“You always know,” I quip. “I’m starting to think you’re a worse creep than Lorna,” I mock.
Cole’s upper lip twitches at the attempt of my joke. I blame the bad humor on my tiredness.
Lorna is a real threat, one all of us underestimated for too long. She tried to kill me over five years ago and most likely would have succeeded had Cole not saved me. Taken me out before any more smoke reached my lungs in the barn fire.
None of us understood the reason, but after our altercation in this very room, where she’d fought me for my book, I was beginning to put a loose picture together.
At the time I thought it strange how she’d called me by my mother’s name, now I know it was out of some sort of grudge.
My gaze straightens back upward. My fingers closing over the fresh scar on my palm. The unlit fireplace in this room as stagnant as the charred logs inside the hearth.
Lorna had wanted both Lillian and me gone, but why?
It’s as stressful as it is confusing.
Turning my chin, Cole tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear and lifts a flower between us. Showing it to me before placing it behind in the same motion.
His eyes linger as they look for silent answers that I’m unable to give. Not because I couldn’t but because like everyone else, I don’t have them.
“Talk to me, Princess,” he decides eventually. His tone stern, needing to know anything.
The thing is though, where do I start? Do I ask how Finn and he are doing? The whole half brother thing present. They seemed okay, but that could be a farce and I wouldn’t put it past them to do that either. Pretend they’re good when they really aren’t.
