Page 93 of Savage Sacrifice
“We're going to have to talk about this,” I clarify, and he nods. “She’s nice, though. I think I like her,” I state, attempting to take a step back, but he stops me in my tracks, his thumb pressing into my chin as he grabs my waist.
“Nice? She must have touched you in order to get you here, which means she knows, and?—”
I press my finger to his lips, effectively shutting him up, and I do a mental happy dance at my success. “I don’t want to unpack all of this right now, but she kissed me on the cheek. She likes me. If anything, she’s sad that you thought she wouldn’t,” I admit.
“It’s true, I saw it,” Wylder adds from behind me, and Blaze’s eyebrows gather in confusion.
Patting him on the shoulder, I opt to leave him with his thoughts as I turn my attention to the more pressing matter. Silently accepting the shift in conversation, Blaze nods at me. “Help your friend,” he murmurs, nodding toward Minnie, and I spin to find her.
Standing at the foot of the bed, Minnie’s arms are folded over her chest, and my heart aches at her sadness. It’s etched into every feature. I rush toward her, wrapping her in my arms, squeezing tighter than ever before.
I hug her with everything that I am, more than I hugged any of my men.
This is different.
My heart wants those men, my soul, and every part of me, a decision made by fate, I’m sure of it. But my friendship with Minnie, that’s completely different. There’s no destiny awaiting with us, I just know she’s my friend, my sister, someone I choose over and over again.
She’s my true blood kin.
The version of a blood kin I'd always hoped for.
We rock each other side to side, and it takes everything inside of me to stop the tears from rolling down my face as Bryony sighs.
“Yay, someone else to be mad at me,” she states from her restrained position on the bed.
Taking a step back from Minnie, I let my hands fall to my sides, offering her a reassuring smile before I turn my attention to the woman we’re all here for.
“Mad? No. Disappointed? Yes. But it’s really more with myself than you,” I say, stepping closer to the bed as I let my anger take hold. “I should have known the day you guys tried to recruit me into The Renegades. The force then was unnecessary. I can’t even begin to fathom the reason you conjured in your mind to make it okay, but there have been so many times you've sat back when there's been chaos. I should have seen it.”
She rolls her eyes. “They're going to be looking for me soon, and then they're going to come looking for you,” she warns, and I shrug.
Folding my arms over my chest, I take another step closer. “Are you happy or sad about that? You’re not really giving anything away, and there’s no sense in us not being honest now with everything out in the open,” I push, aware that there's a hint of emotion in her eyes that doesn't sit with the rest swarming in her tainted pools.
Instead of unleashing pain and sorrow as I hoped, she simply scoffs. “Do you really think The Crow is the only person to make deals? You're delusional,” she snaps, and my brows furrow in confusion.
“What does that mean?”
She shakes her head, clearly irritated by the question, like she didn't lure me into it.
“It means what it means,” she grumbles, exhaling slowly.
I lace my fingers together in front of me as I really look at her. “I don't think you're a bad person, Bryony. You've maybe been dealt a bad hand, but you can choose to fold and leave the mess behind you, or stick with your shitty cards. You could be a new person, whoever you wanted to be, not what someone told you to be. You could do what's right,” I rattle off, but it’s clear my wordsaren’t sinking in. “I don't understand any of this, I don't think any of us do. Well, except you, but are you gonna be the person to help us?”
She looks away, guilt glistening in her eyes. “It's too late for that.”
“The only person standing in your way is you.”
She laughs, but there’s no humor to it. “That’s where you’re wrong. You were lucky to have no recollection of your childhood, no puppet master to form you to be anyone but yourself,” she bites, tears brimming in her eyes once again.
I have to shake my head to force the compassion down. She doesn’t deserve that. Not yet.
“Why are you keeping tabs on me? Why did you have to be my friend? Why does any of this matter?”
Her eyes glaze over as she looks up at the ceiling again. “Because you’re the key.”
I still, confusion icing my veins. “The key to what?” I breathe, my pulse thundering in my ears.
Her stare settles on me again. “The prophecy.”
