Page 48 of Uprising

He shakes his head. “I know I should have seen this, I know I’ve been a prick but I want to help, not for your sake, but for Rose’s. And Sofia’s.”

“Why do you care about Sofia?” I ask. He’s mentioned her name twice now, and the way he looks, I don’t like it. I don’t like that fear in his eyes.

He lets out a low breath. “I don’t have to justify myself…”

“Yeah you fucking do.” I growl.

He steps up to me, almost facing off. And I see it, that same arrogance that Tybalt had.

“I care for her.” He says. Like that answers it.

“Care?” I repeat.

He lets out a growl. Like he doesn’t have to explain himself further.

“You love her.” I say realising what it really is.

His eyes flash. He looks like bloody murder right now. “I don’t…” He pauses. “I don’t even know her, not really, I just…” He looks away then looks back with cold fury. “In other circumstances, in another world, Sofia would be mine, just as Rose is yours and no one would even question it.

Fuck me. He does love her. I stare at him for a moment completely dumbfounded.

“Does she know?” I ask.

He lets out a sigh that I can’t interpret. Either she’s oblivious and that’s his pain, or worse, she knows, that they love each other and he’s in the same shitty situation as me and Rose right now. Forced to endure the knowledge that another man has what is ours. That another man is hurting what is ours.

“Fine.” I say, clearing my throat. “I need you as a spy. I need you to help sabotage them from the inside.”

“Whatever you need I can do.”

I grunt. And then it hits me, the one thing I really need, the one thing Rose needs more than anything in the world right now.

I dig my hands into my pockets, grab the scrap of paper that’s there and scrawl onto it.

“Give this to Rose. Make sure she gets it and no one else sees.”

He takes the note, does the decent thing of not reading it and pockets it.

“I’ll do what I can.” He says.

“No, you make sure she gets that. And you get a Juliet rose, you put that on top of it.”

He meets my gaze and nods.

“I’ll be in touch about everything else.” I say before turning on my heel.

I need to be smarter this time. I need to plan it better. I can’t come at them the same way, I can’t think I can take Darius out from the shadows.

I’m going to wage a war. I’m going to set this entire city on fire. Set off an uprising. And the only way it will end is when I have Darius’s head on a spike.

Rose

It’s been a long day. A horrifically long one.

But then that’s my life now.

All smiles in public and pain in private.

The only good moments are the few hours I get with Lara. Where we both try to pretend we’re not where we are. Where we both try to act like we’re not desperate to escape.