“Not the translation of it, no.”
He swallowed, his focus shifting from the rubble to me. “Retribution.”
“Retribution,” I repeated, my voice just as low as his. “Meaning what?”
Shade gave me a grim look, his icy blue eyes holding a myriad of secrets underlined in pain. “It means the future is officially now.”
Chapter Fifteen
Aflora
Silence.
It started after Shade’s revelation and continued long after he left with Kols and Tray to attend an emergency Council meeting. I sat on the couch between Zeph and Ella.
None of us knew what to say.
Ella glanced at me, her lips twisting like she wanted to say something, only she kept deciding not to speak. I understood why.
She’d recognized the word because of my song. It was one of the primary phrases repeated throughout the ballad. And it’d been written in fire above the destroyed Death Blood Education Building.
I couldn’t explain that. Just as I couldn’t explain how I’d recognized the magic. It wasn’t mine but felt so familiar. Like I knew the fae who cast the spell.
Impossible, I thought for the millionth time. It’s just not possible.
Who could it be? My parents? I nearly laughed at the thought. They were dead. I felt their souls depart when the earth source moved to me. And why would they attack the Academy?
However, I’d sensed something ancestral about the magic, like it was somehow connected to me, yet not.
I didn’t know how to articulate it, so I kept the knowledge to myself while we waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Ella picked up her phone for the millionth time
to check for any updates, then set it down again. Zeph did the same. I just sat with my hands clasped together on my lap, useless. Elemental Fae didn’t really do technology. We preferred more natural methods of communication.
I pinched my mouth to the side and glanced around for the thousandth time. Zeph looked at me, his dark green eyes sheltered and not giving anything away. I wanted to ask him if this had ever happened before. I also wanted to tell him what Shade had said about the future being now. And I sort of wanted to confide in him about what I felt out on that field.
What if he betrays me again?
Can I really trust him?
A few nights of sexual torment didn’t really mean much, and while he’d been against me unweaving the bond, there still wasn’t a lot of evidence that he cared about me.
Except he’d guarded me on the field today.
No, he’d shielded the whole class.
Hmm, however, he’d yanked me beneath him in a protective gesture, and I’d felt his concern for my safety. Unless that had all been in my head.
His gaze narrowed at me now, my emotions probably running across my face with reckless abandon, making it obvious what I thought about.
Because I was still staring at him while I ran through all my considerations about trusting him or not.
I swallowed and looked away just as a cawing sound echoed through the suite. Clove swooped in through the threshold, her black and white feathers splayed in a manner that showed off all her falcon glory. My lips curled at the sight of her, my heart warming from the nearness of my familiar.