“Oh. I guess I should go,” Kya says, taking the hint. “But um…what do I tell them?”
Her eyes move to Ella, who simply arches an unimpressed eyebrow at her. “You’re going to tell Chaz where I am anyway. Tell them whatever you want,” Ella says, turning away from her and drawing her knees up to her chest.
“Ella, that’s not fair,” Kya starts. “I told you I had to tell Chaz. I can’t keep stuff like that from him.”
Ella groans while dropping her head back, and blows out a frustrated breath. “Tell them not to come here and that I’ll be home later.”
Kya looks to me as if asking if that’s okay. I just nod once before turning my attention back to Ella as I feel Kya leave the room.
“You do realize she’s telling them absolutely everything of importance you guys discover, right?” Ella asks me dryly, and I lower myself to a chair.
“She hasn’t told them about Alton,” I point out. “Even though I told her about your involvement with him before she saw it.”
She looks over at me, and I keep my gaze on her and her blood-stained clothing.
“The scent of my brother’s blood all over you isn’t going to help me calm down any time soon.”
“Your blood is on me too,” she points out dryly. “I never changed earlier. I immediately rushed into a stupid decision. But I feel like everything in me is trying to come out at once. There are constant—”
“Constantly little nerve-endings that feel like they’re on fire and desperate to light something up?” I interrupt bitterly, meeting her gaze. “And you feel trapped and desperate to do something—anything—to end this war before someone else goes through hell?”
She sits up, eyes on me curiously, and I wait on her to piece it together.
“It’s driving you crazy, because you feel trapped inside your own body, unable to get your head above water before you’re being dragged under again because you feel the deadline breathing down your neck?”
She bristles, then frowns. “H
ow do you—”
“You’re feeling me, Ella. I can see you, and you can sense my strongest emotions. If you had a few centuries to figure it out and let it grow stronger, you’d be able to sense exactly what’s causing it, I’d bet.”
Her lips press to a thin line, and she looks away.
“Is it true? That your darkness is my darkness? It would make sense if I really am feeling you.”
I should have tossed him in that prison for telling her that. He had no fucking right.
“You knew this and tried to blame L—”
“Say his name, and I’ll lose my mind right now, Ella. Careful,” I growl.
Her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth. “You tried to blame him,” she goes on, her eyes coming up. “Instead of helping me figure it out before I hurt someone I care about, you lied and made me feel even worse about that mistake.”
“You don’t have the time it’ll take to fix it. Like I said, it could take a long time to link those feelings to points of reference to give you clarity. It’s why I know you won’t be ready for any fight.”
“Guess we’ll never know if I could be better, since you’re as broken as he is.”
She stands angrily, and I blur to be in front of her, my hand coming up to her throat and squeezing just tight enough to keep her from dematerializing.
Her eyes meet mine and hold, absent of any fear even as I growl. “I’m not broken like him, Ella. Make no mistake.”
“Aren’t you? The ultimate reward to both of you is death, and you’re fighting over who gets to die for a stupid prophecy that might not even be true.”
I step closer, my growl growing. “It’s certainly true. I don’t know all the details, but I do know it is true.”
“You missed the entire point of that statement,” she says, her eyes flashing back to silver and burning brighter. “The ultimate reward is death. You’re both already equally dead, so there’s really no point in standing here and torturing me. I’ve had enough of that from your brother tonight.”
When I growl this time, she slams her knee up, and it collides with my groin before I can stop it, and I go down harder than anyone has put me down since I got out of the rings.