“And you never thought that you should tell me that?”
Nine has the nerve to look surprised, like he doesn’t quite understand why I’m so upset. “Why would I?”
“She was my mother!” I explode. “You let me spend my whole life thinking she didn’t want me!”
“Yes,” he says softly. His calm tone just makes me angrier. “But what would knowing that have done? It won’t bring Callie back.”
That’s it. That’s the last straw. You can only take too much until you crack and, deep down, I’ve been a fragile mess for most of my life. I’ve got this tough facade, hardened over the years, but it’s only that—a facade. I’ve been splintering for a while now.
Of everything he’s said, the casual way he uses her name is it. It’s enough to make me shatter.
I push up off of the ground. Pure fury burns through my fatigue. My cheeks feel like they’re on fire. My hands, too. I want to push him. To shove him. To hit him and hit him and hit him until Nine knows what it feels like to hurt the way that I’m hurting now.
His betrayal cuts like a knife. Tears spring to my eyes, almost like blood on the floor.
I don’t want him to see. Wiping angrily at my face, the leather burning against my skin, I storm away from him.
“Riley… Riley! Stop. Where do you think you’re going?”
Without turning around, I snap back. Let the caretaker hear me. I don’t give a shit.
“Me? I’m going as far away from you as I can. Look.” The moon’s shining high over my head. It leaves a sliver on the dirt path, shadows wafting on the borders. “Shadows. Maybe I can jump in one and I’ll be back at Black Pine.” I leap, landing unsteadily, one of my slippers slipping out from under me. I angrily jam my foot back inside. “Oh, well. Guess not.”
Nine takes two purposeful steps closer. His entire form is tensed. He’s ready to come after me if I don’t listen to him.
Yeah. Let him try.
I stomp off again.
His voice follows me. “Riley. You must stay with me. Rys has his own motives, but the queen could send any of my kind after you while it’s still dark.”
Wow, Nine. That was absolutely the worst thing to say to me right now.
I whirl on him, shoving my hair over my shoulder so that I can focus all of my unadulterated rage on him. “And?” I shoot back. “Maybe I should stick it out and wait for him. The Light Fae told me more about what’s going on in my life tonight than you did in fifteen years.”
“Don’t say that. You don’t know what he’s capable of. He killed your friend just to get to you.”
That’s a slap in the face. I recoil from his harsh words.
As if I had forgotten that.
It takes a second for me to recover enough to retort. “Oh, yeah. Thanks for that, by the way. I know you left me behind, but at least you could’ve warned me about him before he snapped my sister’s neck.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I clap. The leather muffles the sound. “You did an amazing job. Six years in the asylum, haphephobia, and the ugliest hands you’ll ever see. Plus, Madelaine’s dead. She was my sister. Why couldn’t someone protect her?”
“There’s more to it than that.” Nine gentles his voice. He’s trying to placate me, to keep me from flipping out entirely, saying or doing something I’ll regret. It’s like pouring gasoline on the raging fire of my emotions. “If you would just calm down and let me explain—”
I shake my head. No. No. It’s too little, too late. I don’t want to hear anything else he has to say. No more worthless ‘explanations’. Humming out loud, I cover my ears in a bid to drown his sensible voice out. I don’t care if I look crazy. After all this time, I’ve gotten used to it.
And then Nine does something that I’m not expecting. Moving so fast, as if he teleported from his spot to right in front of mine, he lashes his hand out, wrapping his deceptively strong fingers around my wrist.
My sleeve rides up enough for his fingertips to find a patch of my skin. It sends a shock through my entire system, making me let out one hell of a primal scream. Nine tears one hand from my ear before he yanks his arm back.
As soon as he lets go of me, I clamp my mouth shut. I throw myself backward, ducking to the grass when I see the lights in the caretaker office come blazing to life.
The door creaks open, followed by a shout.