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“She was hurting. It’s different.”
“Oh, bullshit! You think she is the only person who has ever lost anyone? Cry me a fucking river,” he spat. “People hurt all the time. They don’t kill.”
“Hey, where is this coming from?” I sprinted to him. “Talk to me like we used to. We’re family.” I grabbed his arm, spinning him toward me. The cut on the left side of his jaw was already healing, but a bruise formed nonetheless. I reached up to touch it, but he shoved my hand aside, repudiating my touch, and unleashed.
“Don’t lecture me about family! What family? He has been gone for a thousand years. You, Xavier, and Cameron left, too. You three stayed here. How often did you visit, Imogen, huh? While Logan, Neverra, and I stayed on Onuna. Neverra never came to see you, either. Logan was the only one who even tried, and those were few and far between. Admit it. We haven’t been a family for a very long time.”
His words cut me deep, my own emotions heightened by the pain he was feeling. I felt it in the words he spoke, but there was something else as well—fear.
“We lost a lot, Vincent. You can’t fault how we chose to deal with the aftermath. And we’re trying now.”
“It’s too late, Immy.” He ran his hands across his head, disturbing the bun atop it. “It’s too late.”
“What’s wrong with you? I feel fear. What are you afraid of?”
He avoided my eyes, and I felt him try to shut down his emotions so I couldn’t read them. “We should be looking for a way to stop Kaden without worrying about anything else.”
“We are.”
“We’re not.” Vincent tipped his head back, taking a deep breath.
“This is more than just Kaden, isn’t it? More than Dianna?”
His head whipped toward me. “What? No.”
He was a terrible liar, especially to me. “Tell me what’s really wrong.”
Vincent’s smile was small and forced. His hand cupped the back of my head as he leaned forward, placing a kiss atop my head.
“Have fun at the dinner,” he whispered into my hair, and then he was gone, his boots echoing down the hall.
Seventy-Eight
Dianna
“You’re quiet.” I half turned on the chair I was standing on, hanging another string of big clear bulbs.
Samkiel grunted behind me, unwinding a few more sets of lights. “You are aware I can just put the decorations up there, correct? You do not need to balance on a flimsy chair.”
I scoffed as I clipped the last bit in place. I turned and placed my hands on my hips. “Yeah, but that takes all the fun out of it. It’s a holiday on Onuna, and if we are going to do this dinner, it needs to be perfect.”
He smiled or attempted one, at least.
“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been quiet since you got back from the council.” He handed me another set of lights, and I stretched to clip them in place. “I thought you’d be happy with everyone coming over.”
He glanced down at the lights he held for me, his thumb flicking over one large bulb. “Everyone is coming except Vincent, I believe.”
Oh, so that was what it was. I glanced at him. “Not surprised there. He hates me.”
“He’s… emotional, but so am I, I suppose.”
That got my attention. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I might have… attacked him?”
I almost fell off my chair. Samkiel reached out to steady me. “What?”
“He said some things about you. I just reacted.”
