Page 61 of Raven's Dawn

“But I?—”

“I swear to fucking god, I’m gonna punch you in the face, dude,” I said.

He huffed and opened his mouth to speak.

“Are we ready, then?” Caeda’s voice came from atop the staircase to my left. When I turned that way, she looked five times bigger than she did an hour prior. “Clocks ticking. Later you get in, later you’ll get out. The deal was sunrise.”

22

WARREN

From a distance, it looked like nothing more than a garden. I was expecting something more whimsical, or at least more bizarre, given its owner and apparent function of weeding out weak allies. But no, it was just a garden. Albeit, a very beautiful one.

Large shrubs framed its entirety. Only an archway of pink and white flowers bound together with thin vines suggested it was anything more. It stretched on farther than I could reach toward the left and right. God only knew how deep it went.

“We just… go in?” Rain asked.

“That’s what I’m assuming,” Jeremy said. “We have no idea what this is about to be. So remember what we discussed when this started. Pick someone, and have their back.”

I could handle that.

Approaching the entrance, a sense of unease dripped through me. I couldn’t tell if it was because now was the time to feel uneasy, or because of the drugs.

Truly, they weren’t making a large impact on me. Everything I looked at rippled a bit, but when I focused, it was as clear as it had been before I drank the wine.

My other senses, though already heightened by being a Vampire, were more intense than usual. The smell of Fae blood all around me was intoxicating. Ezra’s fingers, twined through mine, felt smoother than normal, soft. Rain’s thudding heartbeat was twice as loud as it typically was.

I certainly wasn’t as euphoric as Ezra and Connor, who hadn’t stopped smiling for the last ten minutes. So much so that I was beginning to feel the ache of muscles in Ezra’s cheeks.

Connor kept the flank with Amara and Luci. Rain, Ezra, Graham, and I stayed in the middle. At the front, Iliantha, Laila, and Jeremy led the group.

In all actuality, Jeremy was the one leading us. Laila kept pausing to look at a pretty branch, or at the stars overhead, and he kept ushering her forward. Iliantha was no better, squatting down here and there to observe the ground at random. Either a bug or something the rest of us couldn’t see.

Graham remained wide-eyed, taking in everything, but staying in line. Rain didn’t look much different. She was quieter than usual, watching everything around us carefully, but she blinked a few times and resumed her pace before she allowed herself to become distracted.

I gave her hand a squeeze.

With big pupils, curving around the raven on her shoulder, she looked up at me.

You okay?

Yeah. Are you?

Can’t complain. I smiled. I don’t know why I expected you to panic.

I don’t know why either. Her voice, through the telepathic connection, was monotone. Not angry, not excited, just flat. Since before I met you, I kept seeing things that no one around me could. Graham was the only one who noticed.

Hearing that voice in her thoughts again, I fought back a cringe. I didn’t mean anything offensive by that. I just—I don’t know. I thought?—

That my brother was right? Still, her voice was soft, gentle, but emotionless. Or that Graham was? Or that Amara was? That I’m not cut out for this? That I’m just a silly little girl incapable of standing up for herself, or protecting herself, or controlling her emotions?

Shit. Now really wasn’t the time to get into this. No. I don’t think that at all.

What do you think? There was a hint of annoyance in her tone now. Because it seems to me that every man in my life thinks that I can’t do shit without them. And frankly, I’m tired of trying to drill it into your heads that I don’t need you. I love you, all of you, but I can fend for myself.

We both knew I wasn’t the one she was really angry at.

I wouldn’t think for a second that you can’t. Lifting her hand toward my face, I kissed her knuckles. I’m sorry if I hurt you. I know you’re not weak, and I know that you’re probably better off here than any of us. Graham included, even though he doesn’t seem to think so. Amara, you guys are probably on the same playing field, but she was wrong, too. I don’t feel that way.

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