Page 10

I scoffed under my breath. “I’m not human.”

“Neither am I,” Persy shot back. “But that doesn’t stop me.”

“Fine,” I snapped, then pulled back my tone. Persy didn’t deserve to have my own issues taken out on her. “No, I’m not sure this is a good idea. But I don’t have the luxury of having human moments. That’s the cost of this power, of this status. I do things to protect ourpeople. And I can promise you, whoever is orchestrating this conspiracy does not care.” A clap of thunder boomed outside, but I barely heard it. “They preyed on akidwho was desperate for money and seem to be blissfully ignoring how many lives have been lost. They don’t care. So I have to.”

My power had a sick sense of humor, because a bolt of lightning lit up the room in a shock of blue light the second I finished speaking. I reigned myself in, taking deep pulls of air to take back control.

Persy hadn’t moved, didn’t even look remotely phased. I guess she’d seen a lot worse. “If you’re doing this, you’re doing it right.”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked hesitantly.

“This has to be a spectacle. Not just telling people you’re dating.Showingthem.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what she was about to say next.

“That date you have planned Friday?” Persy asked. That very date was how I told her about this plan. Our parents wanted us over for dinner and I had to say no because I had plans with Reyna.

“Yeah?”

“You gotta make it big,” Persy said, speaking animatedly with her hands. She always did that when she got excited about something. “As in busiest restaurant in Rome, private room, expensive wine,big.”

“You really doubt my abilities that much?” Not that she needed to know that, but she’d just stolen the thunder on my plan.

“No, I’m just confirming that what you were already planning was on the right track,” Persy said, jumping out of her seat. “Come on, I have an idea.”

And for some reason beyond rational thought, I let my little sister implement that very idea.

Chapter 4

Reyna

A bouquet of red roses and a large box with a white silk bow was sitting on my front porch.

When I first opened my door and saw that there was something resting on the stone, my heart jolted, worried that Lucius had finally lost his mind.

But then I reached down and plucked the card out from behind the bow. The second I saw the lightning bolt embossed on the cover, somehow both equal parts gold and silver, I knew who it was from.

Adrianhad just given me a gift.

The stern talking to I’d had with myself the night of Daphne’s wedding, and again all week, seemed nowhere to be found because my heart took off in a steady gallop.

I was just curious, I told myself. I liked mysteries and figuring people out.

It was just my desire to decode Adrian. That was all this was.

And getting a card of his personal stationary, seeing what his handwriting looked like, knowing how hesigned off his cards, all felt like the corner pieces of the puzzle that was Adrian, bringing shape to him.

A noise from in front of me made my hand jerked back, my fingers caught red-handed tracing the edges of the soft paper.

I looked up to find Titus sprinting towards me, waving at me dramatically. “Don’t touch that!”

“A little late for that, Titus!” I called back. I bent and picked up the flowers, kicking the box behind me. The move felt borderline…protective.

By the time he reached me, he was heaving breaths and had to drop his hands to his knees.

“You good?” I asked, watching him pant like a dog.

“You shouldn’t pick that up without me looking at it,” he said, waving toward me.