Page 41 of Saints & Sinners

For a brief moment, Joe’s face tightened, revealing a strange flicker within his emerald eyes. He hesitated like he was holding something back. ‘Grace... I can’t.” He sighed. “Just go back to your dorm.”

I frowned, hating that answer. “Why can’t I leave with you? Didn’t you see what happened today? This place is just as dangerous, if not more than, the Riftkeeper’s.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line, and the usual warmth in his eyes was now replaced by something colder. “It’s best if you stay here with the others. I’ll be nearby for the investigation. But please, for now, just stay in your room.”

Frustration flared inside me, but I didn’t have the energy to argue. In fact, I didn’t have the energy for anything at all.

I nodded reluctantly as Marnie, and I hooked arms, and she led me away. I cast one last glance at Joe before following Hunter out the door.

Chapter Twenty-One

The dorm was quiet, the kind you could feel pulsing with unresolved tension. Grace sat quietly on the sofa, her knees drawn up close to her chest while Silas paced back and forth across the room. You could sense his frustration erupting in waves. It was unsettling and also fucking annoying.

“Would you stop moving around so much?” Brandon came over to Grace with a cup of tea, setting it down gently in front of her. He shot Silas a glance. “You’re starting to piss us off.”

Silas ignored him, his agitation only growing as he muttered. “I don’t get how you’re all so calm. Veronica just lost her brother, and we’re sitting here... doing fuck all.”

I could tell where this was headed. It wasn’t the first time Silas had lashed out after something went wrong. He ticked like a bomb and exploded like one when provoked.

He stopped pacing, his eyes drifting over to Grace, who sat silently staring at the floor. “And don’t think for a second I don’t know why Veronica’s vision went to shit.” His voice dripped with anger, making me straighten up from the doorway. “She blamed you; you were in her vision. So, somehow, you’re at the center of it all. It wouldn’t surprise me if the barriers came down becauseof you.”

“Silas,” I warned, watching as Grace flinched at Silas’s words. “Pack it in.”

Silas’s eyes flashed with anger as he looked at me. “What? Don’t act like you care now, Cain.” His lips curled into a bitter sneer. “You hated her not long ago, remember? Or has that suddenly changed from one day to the next?”

His words hit me sharper than I expected. Grace glanced over at me, defeated, as if she knew all of this and didn’t want to hear it again. She was used to it. She was always used to people disliking her.

I swallowed hard, trying to keep my temper from rising as I went over to Silas, placing a hand over his chest. “Take a breather, alright?” I said, keeping my voice as calm and as level as I could. “Go to your room and do whatever you must but just calm down before you say anything else you’ll regret.”

Silas’s jaw clenched, and his body was still wound tight as we stared each other down. After a minute or so, he shoved his hands into his pocket and stormed off down the hall, the door to his room slamming shut behind him, rattling the walls.

I exhaled slowly, turning to face Brandon and Grace as she sat there, looking smaller than I’d ever seen her be before.

“I didn’t—” Her voice trembled as she glanced between me and Brandon. “I swear, I had nothing to do with it; you were there in the library with me when it happened. I—”

I looked at her, feeling the strong urge to wrap her in my arms and tell her that she didn’t need to worry. But that wasn’t the case. People were scared, and when they were scared, they needed someone to blame. And in this case, it would likely fall on her.

“I know,” I whispered. “But that doesn’t mean anyone else will believe it.”

Her eyes met mine, wide and full of that devastating lookthat made me want to fix everything, even though I knew I couldn’t. Brandon reached over, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as if to lift the mood.

“The Council will investigate,” I continued. “Until they find out what actually happened, the Ascendants here are going to look for someone to blame. And right now, you’re the easiest target.”

Grace looked down and sighed. I didn’t know Lucas as well as others did. He was always in his own world, getting through Azrael’s classes and spending time with his twin sister. When he befriended Grace, I thought how disgustingly irritating it was that she found a friend. Now, she’d lost him in the time she’d spent here, and I felt like absolute shit.

“You didn’t do anything, Grace,” I added as if that would make things better between us. “And that’s what matters. Let them think what they want, but it won’t change the truth.”

Grace nodded slowly, but the uncertainty was still there, lingering in her eyes. “I thought... you’d be happy right now.”

I frowned.

She looked up, her eyes glossed over with tears. “I asked Joe to take me away from here. That’s what you wanted, right?”

Brandon glanced at me, and a pang of guilt hit my chest.

Yes, I did. I wanted her gone, and, in many ways, I still did. But maybe, just maybe, I should give her the chance that my brother didn’t get to have.

I found myself crouching beside her, wanting to comfort the shit out of her. “Turns out I’ve changed my mind.”

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