Page 12 of Thorns of Death

Until she ended up heartbroken and empty.

“Dad arranged a marriage between me and Dante.” Barely a whisper as her shaking hands came up to follow her words. “Amon was there too.” Her demeanor clearly spoke of the heaviness she carried. On both matters.

I swallowed. “Did he… Amon… did he say anything?”

She shook her head, her golden curls catching the light, and my heart hurt for her. It fucking hurt. If she married Dante, she’d be forced to see Amon. All. The. Fucking. Time. Because the Leone brothers were as close as the Romero sisters.

A thick silence gripped our throats, engulfing us.

“Are you going to go through with it?” I didn’t know who asked, but we all thought it. “Considering what happened?”

“I don’t have a choice,” she stated.

“Isn’t that going a bit too far?” Phoenix signed. She looked like she had been crying too. What the heck was going on? Phoenix wasn’t easily upset. She’d developed a thick skin over the years, especially when she was younger and she first lost her hearing. Kids could be cruel sometimes, although they quickly learned if they fucked with Phoenix, they fucked with Reina and me. We didn’t hesitate to get even. So if anyone had hurt Phoenix now, there’d be hell to pay, and we might have to resort to another murder. Geez, this shit was getting out of hand.

“Want to kill him?” Reina challenged her sister. “Because that’s the only alternative.”

“No more killing.” I’d have to agree with Phoenix. We still had nightmares from what we’d all done.

Reina sighed. “I’m not killing him, Phoenix. I’ll marry Dante. I told you, I agreed to it.”

Emotion flickered through Phoenix's eyes. It almost looked like… jealousy? No, it couldn’t be. The sisters were close and always had each other’s backs. But something was definitely up. Reina was more tense than a rubber band. Her face was pale, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say her swollen eyes had to do with more than her late night.

“What is truly going on?” I asked, my gaze darting between the Romero sisters. “There’s something more at stake here.” I was signing aggressively at this point, probably fucking up some of the meaning. I tended to do that when I was flustered. Or pissed off. “One of you is holding something back. And you’d both better tell me what, or I swear to God, I’ll drag it out of you.”

Phoenix’s eyes, filled with so much sadness, darted to her sister. We all waited for her to say something. But Reina said nothing.

“It’s nothing,” Phoenix ended up answering.

I shook my head. “No, don’t give me that. We’re friends. A family. We’ve killed together, and damn it, we’ll cry together too.”

“Why can’t we just all be happy together?” Raven muttered.

“Or eat together,” Athena chimed in. “It always has to be ‘kill together’ like that’s all we do.”

“Maybe we’re sinners like our father,” Phoenix signed. Reina twisted her hands in her lap so hard her knuckles turned white, but she refused to take the bait. The Romero sisters were close with their father and loved him, despite some discord once in a while. When one said something against him, the other always—fucking always—defended him.

Reina covered her face and my heart clenched for her. The firecracker’s light was dimming, slowly but surely, and it was difficult to watch.

I made my way to her, lowered to my knees, and wrapped my hands around her.

“You know what my brother Illias always says?” I murmured softly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Athena signing for Phoenix. “Strength is silent. Your resilience, Reina, is stellar, and I’ve seen your determination. You, Reina Romero, don’t give up. So whether you marry Dante Leone or not, give that fucker your silence. It’s the best response to people who don’t deserve you.”

“How do I marry Dante and want his brother at the same time?” Her shoulders shook gently, and I felt helpless. My morning’s problems paled in comparison to this shit.

“Easy.” It wasn’t, but I wouldn’t add more fuel to her misery. “You pretend you don’t want him anymore until it starts to feel real. Show Amon what the fuck he lost.”

The unfortunate part was that Dante would be the one to get her.

If you asked me, neither one of those assholes deserved her.

* * *

When I woke up later the same day to the sound of the vacuum cleaner, I knew everyone but Reina was asleep. That girl would start renovating our apartment if someone didn’t get to her soon.

Phoenix couldn’t hear her, and I had a feeling Athena and Raven had earbuds or earplugs in, so it left me to deal with Reina.

I walked into the living room, bleary-eyed and stifling a yawn, only to be shocked by the scene in front of me. My best friend had transformed the entire living room. The furniture wasn’t where it had been before, the rugs had been moved, and the windows sparkled. Yes—they sparkled, even with the rain pattering against them.