Page 47

I stared at the glowing screen on my desk, scanning articles for what felt like the hundredth time. My mother’s name blurred on the page, and the accompanying photograph of her from years ago almost haunted me.

Murder on Crown Lake. It read.

Unsolved.

I dug into the pocket of my hoodie, feeling for the letter my brother had sent me, detailing how he was still alive and ran my fingers along it. I carried it with me almost everywhere. It was sort of a lifeline for me—the only thing that tethered me to him.

But as I was about to take it out and read it for the millionth time, the sound of footsteps made me snap the Google tabs closed, replacing it with a random page on Celestial combat techniques.

“Do you know what Veronica did today?” Silas barged in, his voice immediately grating on my nerves. “Threw a fucking smoothie at me in the canteen. A smoothie! She almost ruined my Warrior jacket.”

I leaned back in my chair and stared at him blankly. “Did you provoke her?”

Silas paused, looking genuinely offended. “Me? Provoke her? Do you honestly think—”

“Yes,” I said without a doubt. Silas rarely elicited patience from others. I think the closest someone who was ever calm around him was Grace; even then, she had her moments.

“Look.” He sighed, dropping himself onto my bed and running a hand through his hair. “All I asked her was if she knew about the demon that killed Lucas being sentenced today to the Hollow by the Council. Obviously, she didn’t take it well.”

My body stiffened. “Today?”

“Yeah, overheard Nadael telling Azrael.”

I nodded slowly, my mind suddenly out of it.

Silas didn’t seem to notice. “Anyway—can you believe I actually miss Grace?”

That got my attention. I turned my chair slightly, my gaze narrowing on him. “What?”

“Yeah, I got used to her shampoo.” He sniffed dramatically. “It made the dorm smell... I don’t know... nice . You ever notice that?”

I stared at him. “You’re fucked up, you know that?” Though I was well aware of that scent of hers following me everywhere I went. I was no better than him.

“Yeah, yeah.” He waved me off. “So how do you feel about her being on the top ten list? Bet Matias is pissed .”

I leaned back in my chair, a smirk tugging at my lips. “I’m glad she knocked him off.” But I wasn’t glad she was on the list in the first place.

Silas gave me a look, tilting his head as if he knew something. “You’re not worried she’ll make the top five?”

“She doesn’t want to do the competition,” I said, though my voice was far steadier than my thoughts.

“You sure about that? Because if she does—”

The door opened again, cutting him off as Brandon walked in.

“You know,” I said, gesturing to the doorway. “Knocking isn’t illegal. You both should try it sometime instead of barging in.”

“Relax, it’s not as if you were in here jerking off or something,” Brandon said, dropping beside Silas on the bed. He winced slightly, rubbing his shoulder. “Had to hit the Healer’s Sector after getting absolutely annihilated in training.”

Silas perked up, grinning. “Oh yeah? Who took you down?”

“Matias,” he muttered, and the name alone angered me. “Marnie patched me up, though.”

I didn’t miss the way his tone shifted when he said her name or how his cheeks flushed like an embarrassed little kid.

“Wait a second,” Silas said, sensing what I was too. He grinned suggestively at Brandon. “Marnie healed you? Are you sure she didn’t heal you a little too much?”

Brandon threw one of my shirts at him, which Silas dodged with exaggeration. “Shut up, man.”

“Can’t you two find somewhere else to be annoying?”

“Well, Grace is no longer here to annoy, so it all falls on you now, Cain.”

I rolled my eyes at Silas, not bothering to say anything else as I played with Grace’s ring and my gaze drifted back to the computer screen.

It was past two in the afternoon. I was meeting Grace in the forest at five.

Time couldn’t be moving any slower.

“Looking good, Bambi,” I said, pushing off the tree as she came into my line of sight.

Her lips curved into a smile, the kind that managed to knock the air from my lungs no matter how many times I’d seen it. “Not so bad yourself, huntsman,” she shot back before breaking out into a run.

I didn’t have time to react before she threw her arms around my neck, and her lips crashed into mine. I held her waist, pulling her closer and grounding her to me. I kissed her back with just as much eagerness as I had done the first time at that motel.

When we finally broke apart, she was breathless, her hands still clutching my jacket like she was afraid to let go. Good, because I didn’t want her to.

“I was in the library earlier,” she said, her voice soft but rushed. “I was trying to find more things on Riftkeeper’s.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, brushing a stray strand of her curls behind her ear. “And?”

“I didn’t find much,” she admitted in disappointment, “but it’s strange. The more I dig, the more it feels like everyone is hiding something.”

My chest tightened. “They always are,” I muttered. “Did you hear anything about the demon that killed Lucas?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “No, why? What did you hear?”

My grip tightened around her waist. I thought about keeping what I had found out to myself, but it was impossible with her around. “He was sentenced today by the Council.”

The air between us stilled, and her small hands holding onto me fell.

“Sentenced?” she whispered.

I nodded; regretting having said it in the first place. “Yeah. Something like that... they don’t keep them alive for long.”

Her gaze dropped and I hated the sadness that clouded her face.

Pulling her closer, I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. She’d hoped for another answer. I’d hoped for a moment when I didn’t have to disappoint her.

“Do you...” she said after a beat. “Do you think about what we’re doing? Sneaking around behind Celestials’ backs, breaking every rule, they’ve set? If Joe found out, he’d—”

“Kill me?” I finished with a wry smile. She glowered.

“This is serious.” She huffed, pushing me away with her elbows. “Do you regret any of it? Are we any better than that... demon ?”

I regretted a lot of things in my life. For the first time, this wasn’t one of them. “No,” I said firmly. “Not a damn thing. Do you?”

Her eyes met mine. Wide and innocent as always. “No.”

I nodded, trying to push away the sinking feeling in my chest as she said that. Moments like this were borrowed time, and deep down, I could feel the clock ticking. Whatever we were would eventually come to an end, and I would end up losing in every scenario possible.

But for now, I pulled her toward me and kissed her again like she was the only real thing in this fucked-up world.