Page 10 of The Stone Curse
“Cam! Cameron, wait. Please!” Levi hurried toward me.
“No.” I backed away from him. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“You can’t avoid me forever.”
“No, I suppose I can’t, not now that you’ve insinuated yourself onto the team. I told you we were over. I fucking told you there could never be anything between us. Why can’t you back off? Why can’t you let it go?” My voice rose, clawing at the night.
“Because you could die!” He glared at me, chest heaving. “The trials could kill you, but if I’m there, I can help. Once I’m in the trial with you, I can help. I can tell you what to expect.”
I stared at him in dawning comprehension. “You know what the trial entails…”
“Yes, but the council doesn’t know that I know. I had to convince my father how badly I wanted to prove myself. He likes the idea of his son being elite, so he pushed it through.” He reached for me, but I backed away. “Cam, I want to help. That’s all. Nothing more. I would never presume…” He put his hands on his hips and tucked his chin in, taking a moment to compose himself. “Look, I know you’re hurting, and if it makes you feel better to hate me, if it helps with the pain to have a target for your rage, then I’ll be that for you, but you need to let me help you pass the trials. Let me help you save Romi and then…then I’ll step down and leave. I promise.”
My anger evaporated, leaving me drained. What was I doing?
I turned away and headed for the elite tower.
“Cameron? Cam?” Levi called after me.
But I didn’t stop.
And this time he didn’t follow.
The observatory wasmy go-to place when I needed to be alone. No one came up here anymore. Not even Orix. I’d claimed it as my spot, bringing Orix’s favorite chair up close to the window and claiming it as mine also.
Taz, however, didn’t understand the concept of privacy. If the darn cat wasn’t with Orix, then he was trailing me. Jumping up onto my lap and expecting to be petted.
Orix said it was Taz’s way of soothing me. That he could sense my sadness, and when I looked into his peridot eyes now, it felt like he was peering into my soul.
“I’ll be okay, Taz. I will…eventually.”
The pain would fade…eventually.
But until then, it would be a constant ache in my soul. “This was Serath’s favorite spot. He loved looking out at the world from here.”
Taz yawned and bumped my shoulders with his head before padding to the door, then looking back at me expectantly.
“We need to put a hole in that door, don’t we?”
He made a soft chuffing sound but didn’t scratch to be let out.
“Is someone there?”
A knock sounded a moment later. “It’s Sharniza. Can I come in?”
Guilt pricked at me because this space should be for everyone to enjoy. Was I making them feel that they couldn’t come up here? “Of course you can come in.”
Shar slipped into the room, and Taz took the opportunity to dash out, probably in search of Orix.
“You mind some company?” Shar asked.
“Not if it’s you.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, and unease bloomed in my chest. “What is it? Has something happened?”
“I’ve moved my stuff into the tower,” she said. “Curi is here too.”
“That’s good though, right?”
