Page 90 of Fallen Gods

I glance at her. She’s hugging her arms around herself. And suddenly, it feels like my heart has cracked in two.

I’m not sure what I’ve said or done to make her eyes cast down and her lower lip tremble. Not two minutes ago, she was boldly saying she needed me. Well, I guess technically, I did almost kill her, so that might’ve done it? Delayed response to nearly dying, maybe?

She bites down on her lower lip, and then in the next second, she’s composed again. Maybe not dressed in posh clothes with her hair all sleek and makeup on, but even without that, her armor’s back in place. I’m almost glad for it.

The thought of Rey Stjerne crying is a terrifyingly sad thing.

Shit.

It would mean she was finally broken.

It would mean I had a part in the breaking. Why does that make my heart clench? Why is hating her getting harder and harder the more time I spend with her?

Other students thread around us on the path. My shirt’s torn. She has mud on her clothes and leaves in her hair. We’re both a mess. Funny thing, though—no one seems to notice.

“You said you need me, Rey. You planning to elaborate?”

She grabs my arm and pulls me past the library, down the trail, until we’re alone again. The wind bites colder here, moonlight bleeding through the trees. But the storm has passed—both the one above us and the one in me. She stops by the old oak near Dallas Hall, the bark covered with carvings of students’ initials—all except one that’s in the very middle.

Hagalaz—it stands out because it’s larger, but also because nobody dares draw anywhere near it.

I don’t know why, but I feel drawn to it, like it’s familiar to me for some reason.

“What does that one mean?” Rey asks, watching my interest. She points at Hagalaz. “Isn’t your grandfather some sort of rune expert?” Her eyes are sharp, searching.

I swallow, jaw tight. “You tell me. You’re the one with all the answers, right?”

“Not all of them.” She steps closer, lowering her voice. “We need to test it. To see what it does to you.”

My laugh is hollow. “Because lightning strikes and burning trees aren’t enough experiments for one night?”

“Aric.” The seriousness in her voice draws my attention, and our gazes collide. “I need to show you something.”

She takes out her phone, goes around to my back.

“Stand still.”

I frown. “What’s this really about? Why do you need me?”

She’s in front of me again, holding up her phone. She doesn’t flinch when she says, “I need to know if there’s a reason I have a note from the only woman who’s ever acted like a parent to me that matchesthese.”

On her phone is a photo of my back. With a new rune tattooed next to the first one.

The blood in my veins turns to ice.

Rey continues. “Before school started, before I was given my assignment by my father, she secretly handed me a note, risking a lot, probably even her life. I need to know if it’s connected, and if it is… Are you with me?”

“You’re going to have to give me more than that, Rey.”

“The thunder.” She locks eyes with me. “The lightning storms, the frost, all of it—what if I can tell you it’s connected and that I can help. Will you help me?”

The words scrape at me. Because I want it to be that simple—and it isn’t. I expected a fight, half-truths made to look like reality. “You want me totrustyou?”

She nods slowly.

I’d laugh, but nothing about this is funny.

“And does this trust extend both ways?” I eye her carefully.