Page 19 of Seared Fates

“Kai! Please, please. I was…shit. I was joking, frustrated. I didn’t mean what I said!”

“But you still said it! YOU SAID IT!” I move backwards, fists shaking at my sides.

Vidar goes to grab me, but Ramy moves between us. I have no idea where he came from or if he’s been there the whole time, but I'm grateful for the shield. “Let him go, Maker.”

I don’t give Vidar a chance and run.

In the chaos of my thoughts, I hear Golden’s voice. But I can’t look at him right now either, or the jealousy that’s been sitting low in my stomach will spill out and even in this state, I know he doesn’t deserve my venom.

Finally, I find my way to the rosewood front door and wrench it open, the slate-grey pebbled driveway crunching underfoot, and the cold wind rustling the evergreens surrounding the mansion hits like a slap across the face. Not calming the twisting fire burning me alive, but giving me something else to focus on.

But focus on what?

Not being loved?

Not being good enough for some guy?

It’s laughable. All these years I never cared about the men I fucked. I have a one true love, after all.

Hilarious.

If only I could stop these tears hiccupping out of me.

“Kai?”

I look up to find Rurik, face concerned. He’s tall, blond, with ice-blue eyes, pale skin. He’s all deadly sharp angles, like an iceberg jutting out of the ocean.

“Kai. What happened?” Rurik doesn’t touch me. He hasn’t since we made the unfortunate decision to sleep together. But that wasn’t what made our budding friendship awkward. It was the fist he slammed into marble, but aimed at my face, that did it; just another person trying to scare me.

But he’s not doing that right now, and I just…“I just wanna get outta here.”

I bury my face in my hands. That’s the thing about fire, eventually it burns out, leaving nothing left for support. So as my chest caves in, all I can do is fill it with tears.

Rurik doesn’t say anything. His hand goes on my back and gently pushes me towards a car, and within moments, he’s driving me away.

The wrought-iron gates shut behind us with a final, metallicclang.

Pulling my legs up, I cry, then cry again, until it’s not even about Vidar any more, but all the things I have no control over. Not my heart, or my fears, or my strange powers.

I can’t say how long we've been driving. I could’ve died and come back the woman Vidar wants so badly for all I paid attention. Yet, when the car stops, and the door opens; I have nothing left in me to shed.

“I’ll take him from here.” Apollo’s voice.

“Do you need help?” Rurik asks.

Apollo unbuckles my seatbelt, and for a short guy, he takes on my full weight as I spill onto him and bury my face into his neck. His familiar woody scent a comfort.

Apollo’s arms squeeze tight like he’s willing to fight Rurik if he has to. “He’s my friend.”

“Just…” Rurik sighs. “Look after him.”

Apollo slams the car door and drags me up into his warm flat, carefully laying me on his mattress that’s right by the curtainless window.

Burrowing my head into his pillow, the mattress dips as my friend joins me on the edge. Neither of us says anything; we don’t even make a sound. My body’s wrung out, but as much as I simply want to drift to sleep, I can’t.

A consoling hand rests on my crown, fingers massaging the headache I didn’t realise formed until Apollo gentles it away.

“Sleep,” his low voice is a caress against my ear, and as if compelled, I do.