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Aragon.
Why it matters what he thinks, I don’t know. Why I’m trying to appease him, I’ll never know.
Perhaps it’s pity I feel—as pitiful as that brisk encounter with dragon shifters outside of the castle—that has me going ahead.
The indistinct chatter filtering down the hall tells me that I’m headed in the right direction toward the dining room. As I go further, the chatter grows louder. I’m about to turn the corner when I hear the voice of one of the twins saying, “Oh, shoot! We were supposed to see Yazmine before breakfast!”
“Don’t worry about it, Stryder,” comes Aragon’s voice. “She’ll still be there later. It’s not like she has anything else to do.”
Stopping abruptly, my heart sinks to the soles of my feet. Of course, he wasn’t expecting me to be there for breakfast. Even if it is his birthday. Angrily wiping my nose with the back of my hand, I can’t figure out why I feel so heavily disappointed. Clutching the gift I had prepared for him as a token of a truce, I blink back the unwelcome tears in my eyes.
I don’t care, I remind myself as I march toward the lab. After all, I hate him.
Then why does my heart patter like it’d just been broken?
Chapter 13 - Aragon
“Happy birthday, Aragon!”
The unified cheer startles me just as I enter the dining room. I look up to see my family gathered below a banner with the same words printed in flame font.
Aidan pops out carrying a fruit cake from the doorway leading to the kitchen.
“Happy birthday, buddy,” he greets with a grin.
All I can offer them is a forced smile. I’d come down earlier to pack breakfast for Yazmine, and I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by everyone this early.
In fact, I’d even forgotten what today is. The reminder comes unwelcome, but for the sake of everyone involved, I pretend to be pleasantly surprised.
“Thanks, guys,” I murmur as I take a seat at the table. Yazmine’s breakfast will have to wait until I’ve appeased my family long enough by sticking around. The gesture comes from a good place, and I can’t keep resisting their attempts at making light of every situation.
“Do you wanna wait for Yazmine?” I hear Kairo whispering to Lily.
“That’s not necessary,” I cut in. “I was gonna take breakfast to her. She doesn’t know where the dining room is, after all.”
“Yeah…” Kairo whispers. “But I told her where it is and asked her to be here.”
I part my lips to give Kairo a mouthful about that. I’d given Yazmine strict instructions not to go anywhere except the lab and her bedroom. But as the cheerful chatter goes on in the dining room, I feel myself even warming up to the idea that she might join us.
“Maybe she’s not coming,” Lily whispers to Kairo. “She did say that she wouldn’t.”
Kairo’s indifferent shrug is all I need to know that Yazmine won’t come. Perhaps they tried to convince her to do that, and she clearly refused. That’s why she’s not here. I look around at the room, a strange flicker of disappointment rearing its ugly head.
The last time I felt this, my heart was left broken. It’s a feeling I refuse to have again, so I shove it down with a chug of orange juice as Kairo slides the cake in front of me.
After an awkward round of everyone singing the birthday song, I blow out the candles on the cake. They’re all so excited, Kairo rushing to cut slices for everyone.
“Oh, shoot!” Stryder exclaims suddenly, slapping a hand on his forehead before turning to Stryker. “We were supposed to see Yazmine before breakfast!”
“Don’t worry about it, Stryder,” I interject, spearing my fork into a fresh strawberry on my slice of cake. “She’ll still be there later. It’s not like she has anything else to do.”
The statement is laced with scorn only I know about. It’s because deep down, I hate the fact that she couldn’t agree to come to the surprise breakfast party. Even if I had given her strict instructions, which she would have broken by coming to breakfast,
I can’t decide which of her choices would have left me more angry. Right now, staring across the table at the empty seat and imagining her there has me curling my fist on my lap. My appetite for the fresh fruit cake is gone, and I can’t help but be hauled into a memory of something awfully similar.
Two Years Ago
“Cheers!”
