Page 135 of Devoured

But Calix isn’t done yet. “He brought you food. Every day for the last week, Sin has made you breakfast, lunch, and supper because he’s worried about you.” He stands rigid in the damp night air, his jaw clenched tight. “He loves you. He messed up, but that’s Cora’s fault. She manipulated him. He’ll be better once she’s gone. You don’t… you don’t know him like I do.”

“Trust me,” I hiss, “I know him better than you ever could.”

The meaning—that loathsome insult buried in my hateful words—isn’t lost on him. Calix seethes. He stares at me, and I stare at him as an invisible barrier forms between us. A line in the sand.

“So that’s it, then?” Calix asks, lip curling as his claws punch through his nail beds. The first crack I’ve seen in his otherwise ironclad self-control. “We’re nothing now?”

We can’t be anything else. “I guess so,” I say.

Calix watches me for a long moment. I hold his gaze without flinching. He shakes his head again before finally saying, “Fine. I’ll see you at the rite.”

When he storms away, he doesn’t look back.

There is no sense in returning to the castle yet, so I lie in the center of the field as the night sky opens again—and spills warm mortal rain on my skin.

It soaks through my hair, my robe, until I’m shaking. Not from the cold this time, from the scent of it. The familiarity of storm winds and splashing in hot asphalt puddles.

My mortal memories feel so distant now, and I wonder if Cora was right. I wonder if that human part of me still needs to die. No—that’s not right—I know that human part of me has already died.

I only wonder exactly when it happened.

“If you cry in the rain, you can almost convince yourself the tears are just raindrops.” Evie strolls out of the darkness, black jeans and wet sweater clinging to her body. She runs a hand through her dripping hair. “I’m assuming that’s why you’re out here. Any other reason would be batshit insane.”

I loose a ragged breath, but my lungs ache. They feel as hollow as the rest of me. “Did Calix send you?”

“Actually, he tried to send Portia.” Evie settles on the ground beside me, ignoring the puddle that immediately soaks her denim. “You’re welcome for intervening.”

I glance up at her, numb. So, so numb. “Is this better?”

“Yes.” She stretches her heels out, far enough to just barely brush the tip of my boots. “For one, I would rather die than talk to you about your feelings. For another, I won’t force you to wear a hideous flower crown.”

If I had the ability to smile, I would. But I’m too tired, so I just nod in response.

Evie sighs and toys almost anxiously with her fingers. “You know why he sent me?”

“Because he’s still playing the hero.”

“Well, obviously.” Evie rolls her eyes. “But also because he had the weirdest thought that we might betray him and hurt his precious cousin. He claims you don’t want to work with him anymore.”

Shit.

I wince. “Evie—”

She catches a raindrop on her palm with a shrug before smearing it on her chest. “It doesn’t matter. I talked him down from that particular ledge. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to convince him that you’re fine until I get you inside. He’s worried about you, Hart.”

I flinch away from that. I was so mean to him. I don’t deserve any of his kindness. “I don’t want to go inside.”

“Why?”

I look at her until I’m certain she can see the horrors in my gaze. “Because the walls are closing in around us, Evie.”

“You’re nervous.”

“No. I’m sick. Cora won’t stop murdering people. Innocents. Humans. Werewolves. There is blood everywhere.”

Evie splays her hands behind her, digging her fingers in the mud. “It’s war, Hart.”

“Yeah, and I’m just—”