Page 5 of Thorns of Silence

I laughed, then mouthed clearly so she could read my lips. “Then give me the first problem on the list.”

The music still drummed around us, but somehow it felt as if the world didn’t exist. Only her.

You.

I was taken aback by her directness and hate in her eyes. What. The. Fuck. I barely knew her, and yet she already couldn’t stand me?

“Why?” I demanded. You couldn’t just have a problem with me without offering an explanation.Especiallywhen my cock had refused to soften since I’d spotted her. “If it doesn’t offend you to explain, oh great Nix.”

I didn’t know where that nickname had come from, but it rolled right off my tongue. I couldn’t help but thinkNixsuited her like a glove. It meantnightin Greek, and somehow I sensed this girl embraced her darkness.

Blue lightning flashed in her eyes—angry and cold—before she started typing again like she had a vendetta against my phone. While she went at it, I admired the lines of her graceful neck. It was fragile and delicate—breakable. I could snuff the light right out of her, and the thought made something tighten in my throat.

She handed me the phone, cutting off my train of thought, then turned on her heel and stomped away. Stunned, I lowered my eyes to read the message.

Stay the fuck away from me or I’ll put you through hell. I won’t just stop at murder, and I won’t make it pleasant.

My eyebrows shot up and I raised my head, catching a glimpse of her swaying her hips and flipping her thick mane before she disappeared from my view.

If I were sane, I would keep my distance. But I wasn’t.

So like the devil that I was, I started feeding the flicker of fire that had awakened in me. I’d burn with this girl, and together we’d create the most magnificent hell.

My lips curved into a smile. “Hell is my home, dandelion. Bring it the fuck on.”

She wanted my attention, and now she had it.

THREE

PHOENIX

20 YEARS OLD

Nix.

He behaved as if we had no history and then dared to call me Nix.How dare he?

I wanted to scream and rage, let my voice be heard, which was something I never did. I was too self-conscious about the sound of my voice since I could no longer hear it for myself. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of people who’d ever heard my voice, and this monster was one of them.

Dante was the only one who’d ever abbreviated the name, and while I’d gushed over it once upon a time, now I wanted to murder him for it. Make him regret ever giving it to me.

And if he ever dared mention a dandelion, I might really lose my shit. The memories were too painful and I’d rather not think about them. Yet, his words pushed through.

You are light and darkness in perfect balance, Nix. They were the same words he’d spoken two years ago. Then, when I needed him the most, he wasn’t fucking there.

I never wore the necklace he gave me with the promise ring and the emergency device. Not anymore. I wiped every piece of evidence of him from my life when I gave birth. Because really, what was the point?

I didn’t want any reminders of him. He failed me. He failedus.

Following the incident in the club, Amon Leone insisted on taking us all home. So here I was, stuck in Dante’s car. If only I could have avoided this tortuous ride.

The twenty minutes in the car with Dante Leone felt like a fucking lifetime, and I was certain it shed me of some good years.

Why didn’t I insist on riding with Amon, Isla, and Reina? I should have demanded it. After all, I was her sister. Instead, I was stuck in the back seat of Dante’s slick Audi, suffocating from the intensity radiating off him.

Thankfully, I avoided the front seat. Poor Raven wasn’t so lucky.

The moment she tried to slide back here after Athena, he barked for her to sit in the front. Athena was nice enough to translate, although it wasn’t hard to read his lips or sense his anger.