Page 65 of Shattered Veil
It makes my skin crawl.
“She doesn’t need me,” I say, my eyes on Brigid.“She needs someone who doesn’t hate her kind.”
Fiona’s laugh is sharp, cutting through the air between us.“Her kind? You mean someone with power? Someone who scares you?”
“Fuck off,” I snarl, turning to face her fully.
“I know you’re terrified of what she represents. Of what she could become.”
I want to strike out, to shut her up, but I can’t. Because deep down, I know she’s right.
“She’s dangerous,” I mutter, more to myself than to Fiona.
“So are you,” Fiona counters. She steps closer, her voice dropping to a whisper.“Brigid is worth fighting for, Lochan. Don’t let your fear cost you something extraordinary.”
With that, she turns and walks away, leaving me standing there, her words echoing in my head. I look back at Brigid, watching as she talks with Marius. The shadows around her have faded, but I can still sense their presence.
“Worth fighting for,” I mutter, tasting the bitterness on my tongue.
But what the fuck does Fiona know? She’s been lying to Brigid this whole time, pretending to be her friend while manipulating her. How can I trust anything that comes out of her mouth?
I watch Fiona’s retreating form, her white hair bobbing through the crowd. There’s something off about her, beyond the obvious deception.
My gaze drifts back to Brigid. For a moment, I can almost forget the shadows that clung to her. Almost.
The mate bond tugs at me.
I take a step forward, then stop. What the hell am I doing? She’s everything I’ve been taught to hate, to fear. And yet...
“Fuck,” I mutter, turning away. I need to clear my head, to get away from all of this.
I can feel Brigid’s presence like a weight.
Worth fighting for. But at what cost?
Marius leans in close, whispering something in her ear. Jealousy flares hot in my gut, surprising me with its magnitude. I want to march over there, to rip him away from her. To declare her mine.
“Fuck,” I growl, shaking my head.“She’s not mine. She can’t be.”
But the mate bond disagrees, pulling at me with an urge I can’t ignore. It’s like a living thing, clawing at my insides, demanding I acknowledge it.
Brigid glances up, her eyes meeting mine across the distance. For a moment, the world falls away. It’s just us, locked in a silent battle of wills. I feel exposed, like she can see right through me, like she knows what I’m thinking.
My hands clench into fists. I want to go to her. I want to run. The conflict tears at me.
And in the end, I turn away from her, like a fucking coward.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brigid
I clutch my dinner—a can of soda, a bag of chips, and a candy bar—as I slip out of the dining hall. I can’t stop replaying the horrors of the day in my mind. I just want to go back to my room, eat something, and crash into oblivion.
The mood in the dining hall is a strange mix of celebration and somberness. I didn’t really know any of the students who didn’t make it, not very well, but it still makes me sad to think about. I’m sure there’s trauma to process down the road—you don’t see someone smashed on the ground in front of you and come out the other side without some amount of damage, I’m sure.
Right now I don’t feel it. Maybe I’m still riding the adrenaline from earlier, or it could be because I’m not out of the woods yet—there are still two more deadly challenges to get through.
But not tonight. Tonight is for going to bed, eating chips and chocolate, and trying to escape for a few hours in a book. I miss my smut books, but Eira managed to find me a fae book in the library that reads like a cross between Macbeth and Victorian porn. It will be enough to escape for a little while.
