He offers up the jar, and I sprinkle the short brown hairs into his palm. Rain splatters our hands before I can nod to him with appreciation and rush my ass back through the rain to find Ivy.
The dry pill slides over my tongue and down my throat as the crowd gathers below the balcony once more. I scan each face through the thick rain and finally find her. Three other girls linger at her side. Something strange blooms in my chest as I watch the girls snicker behind their hands as they walk and talk like they’ve been friends for all their short, shiny lives.
How does she do that? How does Ivy lure people in without even trying?
A tall figure blocks out the little light that the crimson will-o’-wisps provide. I don’t focus on him much until he comes closer in through the sheet of rain. He walks my way, and my gaze is set intently on him.
Ruiner’s bright eyes are the first thing I notice. My heart leaps to find him again. He doesn’t once meet my gaze though.
He brushes past me, ignoring me intently.
When we’re side by side, he slows his gait.
“I have to stay for a while. I can’t leave. I’ll get you out of here, but it’ll take some time.”
“Oh—”
“Don’t speak to me. Don’t seek me out.”
He buttons his black cloak with patience before looking up, past me. I don’t know why it hurts my chest to watch him ignore me. It must be for our protection, but my heart doesn’t seem to understand that rationality.
I focus my gaze away from the enormous man at my side. I nod once. Still he doesn’t look at me.
My heart drums for his attention across my face or his voice against my name, but I try not to let it get to me. Stop being irrational, Bellatrix.
He takes another step past me, but at the last minute, his fingers brush mine. It’s a slick, fleeting touch, but I feel it everywhere.
Slowly my eyes close, and a soft smile pulls at my lips.
Yeah. I’m still fucking crazy even with the pills.
Without another word, he’s gone.
My wet hair hangs heavily around my face while I stand in Leavon’s courtyard. The divots in the dirt are heaping puddles that send memories sloshing through my mind. Memories of fights in the rain and dark magic that slaughtered more than it should have. Especially between friends.
My eyes close at the thought of who I used to be once upon a time in this courtyard.
When they open, I’m looking up at our king.
The cold seeps in through my clothes even with the kid’s jacket wrapped tightly around myself. The constant rain of this kingdom is too much to stand here and listen to Leavon blab on for an hour.
My teeth grind as I stare up at the balcony through the sheet of rain. I can’t see him, but I’ll always sense him. It’s a sensation of wanting to burn bridges and never cross them ever again.
It’s what I intended to do.
And yet, here I stand once again as his pupil and courtier.
His Chosen.
“Ah, you’ve made the right choice, my friends,” Leavon calls out, his voice booming through the storm with strange magic.
“He’s so dramatic,” I hiss to myself.
“You should hear him during a festival,” a man at my side chimes in...
As if I asked him.
Manic laughter and deadly commands flash within my mind of a festival long gone. But one I’ll remember for the rest of my life.