Page 2

“Did you bring another trinket, another useless pep talk?”

He winced. “Our families have a long history together, and the legacy of Starhaven lives on with your parents’ sacrifice.”

My shoulders rose to meet my ears. The word legacy was too large a word for my mouth and my tongue rolled around the weight of it. The implications frightened me. Sacrifice was another one. I’d heard it a thousand times tonight, and it made my ribs tighten around my chest and my stomach flip.

People reacted when they heard my name. Their eyebrows shot up, and their mouths dropped open.

“They saved the city.” The words chipped my teeth like stones.

“They will be missed. Don’t feel you have to be strong in front of me.” Walden’s tone turned soft, and I wanted to rip it from his mouth. I knew condescension, however well packaged. Who did he think he was?

“Thanks for your permission,” I snapped, but my chin wobbled.

Walden looked out over the bay, moonlit, as if the sight of my cracking composure moved him.

“I want you to know you don’t have to do everything on your own. The Baylarks are always here for you.”

I nodded while my stomach sank. Knowing how hard I tried every day to live up to my parents' unreasonable expectations.Until my forehead thumped, muscles ached, and tongue tangled. I wrung every bit of effort from my mind and body, and it still wasn’t enough.

“I don’t want anything from you.”

“Maybe one day you’ll change your mind. We don’t need to have any of our parents' enmity between us.” He waved his hand.

Heat crawled up my neck. The way he said it twisted deep and jagged into my chest. Heat stung unwelcome at the corners of my eyes. The tears I tried to suppress dripped down my cheeks.

The wind blew against me, bloated with scents, and the mix of them turned my stomach. Among them, crisp eucalypt, the only one that cut through the mess. I pinched my nose, not allowing Walden Baylark to comfort me, even in scent.

“You come here, knowing my parents hated your family. The great Walden Baylark offering his gilded protection, and you expect me to… what? Thank you for the privilege?”

Walden put his hands up, his jaw tight. “Offending you was the last thing I wanted, Tully.”

How many years had I stared at Walden like he was a lighthouse? A pillar of all the things I wanted to be, and all the things I craved. So handsome, responsible, and intelligent. My heart thumped against my ribs, and it bruised. When he called me a kid and the simple words devastated me. I still wore his bracelet, because I wanted to be like Esta. Not because I wanted anything to do with him.

“Fuck you, Walden.” I glared at Walden through hot, narrow slits. “How dare you come here when my parent’s bodies are barely cold? Trying to claw back the prestige your pack wanted from the Hartlock name. Some things never change, do they?”

I repeated words that weren’t my own. Wanting to leave a mark that matched the hurt I carried.

Walden took a step back, his hands palm up. “That’s not—”

“You’re not welcome here. Leave.” My voice rose high, suspiciously like a whine.

I wanted to pour the anger in my veins on him like lava. To burn off his composure and drag him into the throbbing mess I drowned in.

Walden’s exhale was loud with withheld judgment. I couldn’t look at him. I let myself be petulant. Everyone in the funeral behind us would find me lacking, if they didn’t already. My eulogy had been littered with choking stutters. I couldn’t honor my parents, only shame them.

Walden was just like them, only better at hiding it.

“Tully, if you need anything…” Walden whispered.

“Leave.” My beg brought a lungful of his eucalyptus scent and calmed me despite how I fought it.

The tears cascaded as Walden left. I let them take me over. What did it matter? I was a mess. Best to embrace it. A soft white tissue shook in the corner of my gaze.

“Here, looks like you might need this.”

I took the tissue and looked at its owner. He was the opposite of Walden, who was elegant and untouchable. This man’s smile was wide with teeth. His whiskey eyes rolled heat through my shivering limbs.

“Thank you.” I sniffled.