Page 107 of Requiem
“I used to think if I inserted myself enough into your lives, that things would be bearable for me,” Adriana says quietly after a moment, staring into her coffee now. “But I was very wrong.”
Pain and recognition flicker across Micah’s face.
“And all it really did was make me drown with you.”
The words settle, and I look at her. “I blamed you for a lot,” I admit quietly. “Still do.”
Her eyes lift to mine immediately. “I know.”
“I still don’t know what to do with some of it. We all have so much history together, and I…I don’t think I’ll ever be in a place where I can forgive you.”
A tiny nod. “I know that, too.”
There’s no defensiveness in her tone, just acceptance.
Micah breaks the heaviness first, leaning back with a sigh. “This conversation desperately needs another coffee and maybe a therapist, or something.”
Adriana snorts softly. “Emma is the therapist.” She jams her thumb in the direction of the stairs. “Go get her.”
“Hell no,” he replies. “She and Heather love their sleep. I am definitely not fucking with that. No matter how fucked up we are.”
A real laugh slips out of me then, because I realize something. For the first time in years, none of us are pretending anymore.
Chapter twenty-nine
MICAH PRESCOTT
Yesterday went really well after our breakfast talk. I have to admit that it’s weird seeing Jude not so hateful toward Adriana. But I get it. A lot has happened between them that I’ll never truly understand. None of us will, honestly. Just like no one will understand the bond that he and I have.
Dinner feels strangely normal tonight. The cabin is warm from the oven and the fireplace, low light spilling across the dining room while snow drifts steadily outside the windows. For a moment, it almost feels like we’re all just friends trapped in a winter cabin instead of people preparing to walk straight into hell tomorrow.
I sit beside Heather near the end of the table, one arm draped over the back of her chair while she steals vegetables off my plate like she always does. Honestly, out of all of the things my girlfriend could steal off my plate, I’m not complaining that it’s vegetables. Even if she keeps telling me how important fiber is for our diets. My cute nurse.
Across from us, Adela is halfway turned toward her laptop even while eating, her attention splitting between the screen and Nico, who keepstrying to distract her by sliding pieces of chicken onto her plate every time she forgets to eat.
“You’re going to pass out from caffeine poisoning before we even get to the party,” he mutters.
Without looking up, she reaches over and smacks his arm. “I’m busy saving all of your lives.”
“Hot,” he replies immediately.
Kieran groans from beside them. He seems to always be fed up with Adela, Nico, and Rafe. But he’d still die for any of them.
Rafe sits near the center of the table, relaxed as always, one ankle hooked over the opposite knee. He drinks his wine slowly while watching everyone with that same unreadable calm that somehow makes him seem even more dangerous. I don’t know how.
And Jude is sitting beside Emma with one hand resting against his thigh while she talks quietly to Adriana across the table. His dark hair keeps falling into his face, still slightly damp from his shower earlier, and every so often Emma reaches over without thinking and brushes the strands back from his hazel eyes. Every single time she touches him, I see him steady a little more. It might not be anything crazy, but it’s just enough that I notice.
Adela finally exhales sharply through her nose and pushes her laptop farther onto the table. “Okay,” she says. “Good news.”
That gets everyone’s attention immediately.
Her blue eyes flick toward Rafe first, then Jude. “We’re close.”
“How close?” Emma asks carefully.
Adela taps something on the keyboard, pulling up lines of encrypted code I don’t even pretend to understand. “Close enough that I’m finally willing to be optimistic.”
Nico leans forward, elbows resting on the table. “The system’s layered like a paranoid psychopath built it.” A beat. “Which…he did. But we’ve isolated most of the trigger pathways now.”
