Page 77 of Saints & Sinners

My heart dropped.

His expression was livid. The only time I saw this look on him was when we had to leave or whenever he encountered Riftkeeper’s.

“Grace,” he said, his voice low and tight like the calm before a storm.

Marnie looked at me with guilt written all over her freckled face. “I’m so sorry. He—he came by to check on you, and then I got nervous, and I—” She didn’t finish what she had to say as Joe stepped closer and grabbed my arm, his fingers tightening around my wrist as he pulled the sleeve of my jacket up to reveal the Riftkeeper mark etched on my skin.

“Is this what you are now? One of them?”

I flinched, but before I could respond, Hunter stepped forward.“It’s my fault—”

“Don’t,” Joe snapped at Hunter. “Don’t even try to defend her. This—this is beyond reckless of you, Grace.” He turned his full anger back on me, his grip on my wrist loosening only slightly. “You’re branded with a Riftkeeper mark. Do you even understand what that means? What you’ve done to yourself? I can’t—” He broke off, his voice trembling with something that wasn’t just anger. It was fear.

Hunter took a step forward again. “I was the one who gave her that mark. Blame me all you want, but she had nothing to do with this.”

Joe glanced at him and his anger refocused. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure Nadael deals with you later.”

My eyes widened. “Joe, no! I wanted to—” My words caught in my throat as Joe dragged me towards the door, and Hunter stepped between us, blocking Joe from taking me away.

“Get out of the way.”

“She stays.” Hunter’s tone would make anyone flinch, but Joe was too wired, too angry to see past the sudden protectiveness in Hunter’s voice.

“You’re not the one who gets to decide here. Let’s go, Grace—”

“No.” My body trembled with the remnants of what happened today: the Riftkeeper’s, the kiss, and Joe. I snatched my wrist free from his grip, and he spun to face me. “You don’t get to do that to me, Joe. You don’t get to decide formeanymore.” My voice began to rise. “I’ve spent my whole life hiding. I’ve spent every single day running, looking over my shoulder, because of you! I never asked for this, and I especially never asked for Celestia.”

Joe’s face hardened, his lips pressing into a thin line. “I’m trying to protect you.”

“Protect me?” I laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and odd even to my own ears. “All you do is hide things from me, control meand look where it’s gotten us.”

“Grace—”

“You’re not my father, Joe!” The words came out before I could stop them, raw, jagged, and full of everything I’d been holding back for years. “You never were, and you never will be.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Joe stared at me, his face pale and drawn as his expression fell beneath the weight of my words. For a moment, I thought he might say something. I thoughtIwould say something—that I’d apologize and regret it. But I couldn’t because I meant it in so many ways.

He nodded, a slow, defeated movement. “You’re right,” he said quietly... broken. “You’re right,” he said again and glanced at all of us before he turned, shouldering past Hunter.

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving the remaining silence to stretch out. I stood there, my chest heaving and my hands trembling at the sides.

“Grace,” Hunter said softly, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him because something inside me had already cracked open and spilt out, leaving me empty.

I shook my head and withdrew a few steps back before heading towards my room with Marnie in tow.

I stalked across my room and toward the window, gripping the edge of the frame so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Silas and Brandon filed in after me, their voices cutting through the calmness I was desperately trying to maintain and failing.

“What the fuck just happened out there?” Silas said. “I thoughtJoe was about to start throwing hands at you or something.”

Brandon leaned against the wall. “We knew you were taking Grace out of Celestia, but I didn’t think you’d go as far as getting branded with the Riftkeeper mark. This is getting out of hand, Cain.”

I clenched my teeth and faced away from them. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t even think about it. And I sure as fuck wasn’t going to admit what was swirling through my mind. That kiss. Her lips on mine. Or the way she melted into me even though she knew it was a mistake. Hell, I knew it was a mistake. And yet—

“Something happened with Grace, didn’t it?” Brandon went on, reading me like a goddamn sonogram.

“Yeah, ya dipshit,” Silas said. “They went to find Aaron and encountered Riftkeeper’s. That’s what.”

“You clearly didn’t catch the vibe that Cain and Grace were giving each other when we were in the—”

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