Page 141 of Ruined Wrath
Not keep him safe. Not stay close to him. But distracted, like we’re playing a losing game, and all we can do is soften the blow.
The thought makes my throat burn with bile.
I move through the house slowly, checking doors and peering out windows I’ve already looked through twice.
The rational part of me knows this is pointless, but the rest of me need to keep moving to keep the illusion of control from crumbling.
By the time I climb the stairs, my pulse has finally slowed, though my shoulders remain tight.
I square them anyway and paste on a smile before pushing open the door to Scout’s bedroom.
I find him sitting cross-legged on the floor with a half-finished puzzle of the solar system spread out in front of him.
He looks up when I enter, his face lighting up. “Fiona! Look, I finally finished all the edge pieces.”
I smile as I lower myself onto the floor beside him. “That’s impressive. The edges are the hardest part.”
“Dad says if you do the edges first, everything else is easier.”
Something twists in my chest at the mention of Cormac.
“Your dad is very smart.”
Scout hums, his attention already returning to his puzzle.
I help him sort the pieces, grateful for the distraction and the sense of normalcy, but my thoughts keep getting pulled back to Adrian and Lorcan.
Scout doesn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of this. He’s already lost so much without even knowing it. I wonder what he’ll think one day when he learns how many men fought over him like a prize?—
Suddenly, a loud explosion tears through the air, so deafening that the windows rattle.
What the hell was that?
I freeze, overcome with panic, until Scout screams and launches himself into my arms, his small body shaking as he buries his face in my chest.
I wrap myself around him instinctively as my heart pounds.
Outside the door, footsteps thunder down the hall followed by Cormac shouting.
Somewhere, glass shatters, and another loud explosion sounds, causing the house to shake.
“It’s ok,” I whisper as Scout clings to me, even though I have no idea if it is. “I’ve got you.”
As all hell breaks loose around us, every instinct I have screams at me to move, but I can’t.
Whatever war Cormac thinks he’s fighting, it seems it’s already found us.
Chapter Thirty-Two
CORMAC
The first explosionrattles the windows and sends a shockwave through the floor beneath my boots. The second explosion follows almost instantly, and the floor bucks beneath me as if the house itself is trying to throw me off balance.
For a split second, my brain refuses to accept what’s happening.
This place doesn’t get breached. Not like this. Notever.
Kieran made sure to turn this estate into a fortress because we all learned that peace is a fragile thing that happens in the gaps between wars. And from the sounds of it, someone has just declared one.
