Page 9 of Dominion

But it was time to put on my big girl pants and stop hiding from the things that were too hard to comprehend. I had to face the music.

I could hear the laughter as soon as we reached the ground floor, especially Zoe’s. The lighthearted banter they had going on between each other made me believe that maybe one day this would be me.

Happy, carefree, completely free of this fuckery that was going on in my life.

“Look who I’ve found,” Cillian said as soon as we stepped through the door into the dining room.

Indigo sat at the head of the table, imposing as always, but there was no smugness on his face this time. When I first saw him, he looked so angry, so pissed off at everything and everyone but now, seeing him here sitting like this, I could see the tiredness lining his face as well.

Atlas was on his right, and I hated seeing the guilt on his face.

“Hey, kiddo,” Atlas greeted as he stood up. He quickly rounded the table and came straight to me, pulling me into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against my hair. “I’m so goddamn sorry, Skylar.”

Anguish laced every single word, and I hated that I was the one who put it there. I was the reason why these men looked like somebody had punched them in their stomachs. I was the reason why Atlas probably kept beating himself up for what happened at the riverbank.

If it wasn’t for my recklessness, my need to be independent and to do things in my own way, none of us would be here. None of us would have to apologize for anything. My fucking stubbornness did this.

I promised myself I wouldn’t be a victim anymore, yet that’s what I did. I refused to listen to people who knew better than me, and I put us all into a situation that could’ve been avoided. I destroyed lives as if they meant nothing by not listening, and I hated myself even more now, standing here in the embrace of this wonderful man who wasn’t guilty of anything.

“It isn’t your fault,” I whispered and wrapped my arms around him. “If anyone’s at fault, it’s me.”

“No,” Indigo said from where he sat, and I took a step back from Atlas to look at him. “It’s not your fault, Skylar. I don’t want to see you beating yourself over this.”

“But it is,” I murmured. “If it wasn’t for me and what I did, they never would’ve?—”

“Maybe.” Indigo nodded. “Maybe you could’ve been smarter. Maybe you should’ve stayed instead of going out like that, but shit happens. I know that each and every one of us in this room did things far worse than what you did.”

“But Dylan and Ash?—”

“We will get them,” Atlas said, squeezing my shoulder. “Both of them are going to be okay. In a year or so, all of this will be just a bad dream you managed to wake up from.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to imagine that future where all of this was just a bad dream, but at this moment, I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine a future when the two people who were supposed to be a part of my life weren’t here.

Irrational always beats the rational in these situations, but I didn’t want to tell them how much my heart hurt, as if somebody kept slicing through it with a kitchen knife. I wanted to get over this, to save them, to live my life far away from Winworth.

“Alright,” Zoe piped in. “That’s enough of depresso and stresso things. Skylar.” She pulled out a chair right next to Indigo. “Come and sit here. I made chicken and there’s salad, and, don’t fucking make that face at me. You are going to eat even if I have to feed you.”

“Me?” I pointed at myself. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it. I could almost see inside your mind. You are eating and that’s final.”

“Okay, okay.” I laughed and walked toward her. I sat down and pulled the napkin to my lap. “I’ll eat.”

“Good.” She placed her hands on my shoulders and, before she started walking away toward the kitchen that was built in as part of the dining room, she started talking again. “I swear to God, it’s like watching Ophelia sometimes, just without her knives.”

“Oh God, no,” Indigo exclaimed and closed his eyes. “We don’t need another Ophelia. We really don’t.”

“Why?” I asked, but I couldn’t stop laughing at the sheer terror on his face.

Atlas and Cillian laughed from the other side of the table, facing me, but Indigo… Indigo seemed to be praying.

“Are you praying?” I asked, unable to hide my smile.

“If there was another Ophelia, I would literally move to Europe.”

“You do know she can travel.”

“Then fucking Australia. I don’t know.” He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. “This world wouldn’t be able to survive with another Ophelia in it. One is more than enough.”

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