Page 8 of Awakened and Betrayed
“You could’ve tried, sweetheart,” Pebble challenges, the arrogance in his tone a perfect match for the arrogance in his grin.
I roll my eyes at him. “Please, you would have been on your back in five seconds flat.”
“If you ask nicely, I’d be happy to get on my back in three seconds flat. I like a woman who wants to be on top.”
I tilt my head appraisingly. “Yeah, I could see that. You seem kind of lazy.”
Kallan throws an indignant arm in Enoch’s direction. “He warned him too, and I don’t see you throwing knives at him!”
“Enoch just told him I was going to kick his ass. He wasn’t laying out my weaknesses for a perfect stranger. I guess we’re not the battle-tested bros I thought we were,” I finish, trying not to smirk.
“At least she missed, what are you whining about?” Pebble comments smugly.
Another throwing knife leaves my hand headed for Pebble before anyone can even turn my way to track the movement. The blade sinks into the meaty part of Pebble’s thigh. He cries out and looks down at the knife and then up to me. Anger slowly replaces the shocked look on his face.
“I don’t miss. I’d be happy to continue to prove that for however long you continue to prove that you’re a cocky prick.”
I turn my focus back on a now laughing Kallan. Nash chuckles and slowly makes his way over to Pebble to heal his new leg wound. Enoch snorts and runs a hand over his face, the tension leaving him now that he realizes I’m not actually making a break for it.
“I thought my dad was going to kill me,” he mumbles, mussing up his hair in obvious exasperation.
“Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time for that,” I offer sweetly, as my staff disappears and I brush some stray blades of grass off my shirt and pants. I head back towards my new fancy prison and ignore the soreness in my body from the fall.
“Vinna, it’s obvious you’re not going to make this easy on us,” he tells me, and the glint in his eyes gives me the distinct impression that he just mightlikethat. “But we’re in charge of your safety. You can’t just run off.” His tone is imploring, but I sense a deeper question I can’t quite identify nestled within it.
“Enoch,I’min charge of my safety. And let’s keep it real, thanks to this fucked up world of magic, I don’t have anywhere to run. But that doesn’t make you, your coven, or dear old dad and his elder buddies, my masters or commanders. Yeah, we went through some shit together, but the truth is you don’t know me, and I don’t know any of you. If you’re looking for promises to be good, or blind faith and compliance, look somewhere else. None of you have earned my respect or obedience. So, I’ll do whatever I fucking want.”
We reach the too big front door, and he beats me to the bronze knob and pulls the door open for me. I know I shouldn’t read into the gesture as anything but a polite show of manners, but I can’t help feeling annoyed by it. Any other day I wouldn’t think twice about walking through a door someone opened for me. These fucking casters have me reading into everything like it has some hidden meaning or agenda.
I leave Enoch to his shady door holding and make a beeline for the room they’ve assigned me. I shut myself in and fume. If the floor wasn’t polished concrete, I would be wearing a groove into it from all the pacing I’m doing. I need to work out and expel this angry, restless energy, but fuck if I’m going to ask them where the gym is around here. Of course, it’s the one thing left off the tour I was given earlier.
My thoughts drift to my guys, and I wonder what’s happening at the mega-mansion. What did they go home to after the hearing with the elders? If I hadn’t witnessed the fight over Valen’s statement, I would have assumed Lachlan and the others would be relieved to get rid of me. But then why wouldn’t Lachlan just give up his claim when he was asked to? What was that about? Why keep me, when you hate me? It’s the Beth puzzle all over again. Although now I know that Beth never wanted me, it was just Talon’s compulsion that forced it on her.
The ever presentache in my soul fights to the forefront of my mind at the thought of Talon. Just when I think I’m managing to tread water in my pool of sorrow, something else happens, and I get pulled back under to drown in the desolation. I’ve replayed Talon’s dying words over and over again. I’ve scoured every detail and exhaustively examined each revelation. Of all the crazy shit I’ve experienced over the past month, I never saw what Talon confessed coming.
It’s rocked me to my core, and I’m not sure how to feel about any of it. On the one hand, I’m indebted and beyond grateful that Talon was looking out for me. I wouldn't be who I am today without him, or his influence and guidance. But on the other hand, I’m fucking pissed. I can’t help feeling manipulated and angry that he kept me in the dark.
I can accept that he couldn’t tell me when I was under Beth’s roof, but why the fuck didn’t he say something when he found me on the streets? From the first day that Talon introduced himself, he should have fucking told me who and what I was. So much confusion and loneliness could have been avoided if he had just done the right thing. Not to mention all the information he had about my parents, information that’s now lost forever.
Voices out in the rest of the house are gradually getting louder, and it yanks my attention away from my troubled thoughts. Who the hell is yelling? I leave the room and follow the angry, raised voices to their source.
“You shouldn’t be here. You need to respect what the council decided and back off.”
“Leave everything there, because you’re sure as hell not coming inside the house.”
I round the corner ready to lay into Enoch and Nash for yelling at the guys. But I freeze when it’s not any of my chosen at the door but Aydin. He stands amidst stacks of boxes and as soon as he sees me, it’s obvious he’s no longer listening to shit Enoch or Nash are saying to him. I fold my arms over my chest, and we stare at each other.
“I brought your things.”
“I see that. The question is, why are you still here?”
Aydin flinches like my words physically hurt him, and I try really hard to stomp out whatever’s inside of me that feels bad for that. I knew Lachlan hated me and that Silva didn’t trust me. Keegan was more wrapped up in supporting Lachlan at all costs than forming his own opinions about me, and Evrin was nice but mostly indifferent to my presence.
Aydin was the one who made it easier to let all of their shit slide off my back. He was the one that gave me hope. The one who made me think that maybe someday the others would come around. He was my friend, or at least I thought he could be. But as I sit here staring at the ginger giant, all I can think is…liar.
“I’m not leaving until you talk to me,” Aydin tells me.
“Feel free to stand out there for the rest of your life then.”
