Page 89
Story: City of Smoke and Brimstone
Her dark brows flicked up. “Oh?” Her tone was cold. Mocking.
Darien looked utterly confused by her reaction. “Why’s that so surprising?”
She cleared her throat, clasping the handles of her bag before her with both hands. “What’s surprising, Darien,” she began calmly. Too calmly. “Is how you’ve always placed such high value in everyone else’s life but not your own.”
Loren winced on Darien’s behalf.
As for Darien, his expression shifted into an unreadable mask as his sister stared up at him with harsh eyes.
Ivy drew in a sharp breath through her nose, and for the first time in Loren’s life she saw her fighting the black of the Sight, her pupils nearly swallowing the steel blue of her irises. “Get out of here, Darien.” The words slightly wobbled, as if she were holding back tears. “We can manage without you for once.” When her eyes flicked to Loren, there was no warmth in them. “Take care of yourself.” An order—not a request.
Ivy walked away.
Darien stared after her. Loren may not be able to read auras, but she felt his pain. And it cut sharper than a knife.
But he buried it quickly, just like he buried all his emotions. It was an art he’d perfected a very long time ago. He scrubbed hisgood hand down his face, and then gestured toward the hallway they’d barely set foot in. “Let’s go.”
They had just started walking again when Max called from the living room, “Darien, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Loren slowed again?—
But Darien nudged her forward with a gentle hand on the small of her back. “Not now, I need to get her in the sauna,” he said over his shoulder.
Boots pounded and glass crunched as Max followed behind them. “I know, it’ll just take a minute, though?—”
“I don’t have a minute right now, Max, and neither do you. We can talk after, if I’m still around.”
Max came to an abrupt standstill. Loren didn’t have a chance to brace herself before his next words lashed out like cracked whips. “Would it kill you to care about something else for like twofuckingseconds?”
Darien froze.
Loren did, too, her heart stumbling two beats.
Slowly, too slowly for the reaction to not be considered a threat, Darien turned around, black swallowing his eyes, and said through his teeth, “Pardon me?”
Oh no.
Oh no—not again.
Loren edged around him, stepping slightly in front of him to try and make him look at her. “Darien, please don’t start a fight?—”
“I’m not, but he can watch his tone,” Darien said, that hostile glare fastened on Max.
Loren’s heart tripped into a sprint as Darien stalked up to Max—getting so close, there was barely a foot of space between them.
“Let me get something straight with you,” Darien began. His lethally soft tone sent a prickle of goosebumps up Loren’s arms.“I care about everything going on. I care very much, but I willneverstop caring about her, not even fortwo fucking seconds.”Loren held her breath when he pointed a finger behind him—ather.Gods, where was a hole to crawl into when she needed one? The last thing she wanted was to come between Darien and his family, and that was exactly what was happening. First Ivy, and now Max? In the span ofminutes?Darien continued, “She’s the reason we’re all alive right now, and if we lose her, we’refucked.Understand?”
“I know that,” Max began, fighting to keep his composure. “I know, Darien, just—” He held up his hands. “Listen. Can you forget what I said?—”
“Alright, I’m forgetting. Let’s start again,” Darien prompted sharply.
“I want to look for Maya,” Max blurted.
Loren couldn’t see Darien’s face from this angle, but she knew him well enough to tell that he was taken aback and likely blinking in surprise. “You what?” The question was flat—another threat that had her stomach turning somersaults.
Max’s explanation came rushing out. “I found her last night—right before the replica exploded. She survived, and so did her friend Magenta—Magenta’s an Elemental, too. They were with us right up until Jewels went into cardiac arrest, and then she left?—”
“Sheleft?”he scoffed. “That’s nice of her. Did she tell you where she was going?”
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