Page 79 of Reflections of Peonies
“The console,Daddy.” I didn’t see it anywhere. He’d better not be lying to me. “I want everything.”
“I told you not to call me that.” He grimaced. “And it’s not out here. We’ll need to ask at the register. Follow me.”
13
Julian POV
I leftBianca to bond with Bryce. With that, my good deed of the day was complete. He’d acted foolishly in trying to rile me up, and I could make him pay later. Right now, though, he and Bianca needed all the help they could get to foster their relationship.
Miles’s analysis hadn’t been wrong: those two were more alike than Bianca wanted to admit. It was almost painful to watch them interact. It was also clear from how she looked at him that she was already beginning to see him as a brother.
Now, it was time for Bryce to step up.
In any case, it was time to focus on the more unpleasant plans for my trip.
She had to expect I would visit her soon. The Officers used their stupid app to gossip about everything else; there was no way the ‘inside’ group wasn’t keeping each other up to date in a similar way.
Finn definitely would have set something up.
I approached the open-walled store and spotted the tall, dark-haired woman leaning over a countertop, deep in conversation with Hanah Grier.
“Kayla!” I snapped, not waiting for my cousin to notice me first.
She jerked upright, then frowned and addressed me similarly, “Julian!”
I’d closed the space between us in an instant. “Why are you ignoring me?”
“Because you’re acting like a brat,” Kayla said, touching her earring. She was already on the defensive, hiding her fear behind snark. “I won’t reply when you send me demanding messages. You should respect your elders. Why are you visiting me at work anyway? You hate the mall.”
No. I hated crowds. And malls tended to be full of crowds made up of people.
Whom I hated even more.
“I’m here with Bianca,” I told her, waving off her attempt at redirection. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“I figured,” Kayla said dryly. “That much was obvious when you said we had to discuss my ‘deep betrayal.’ So dramatic, by the way.”
“Bianca’s here?” Hanah stood, her eyes searching past me. “Where is she?”
“She’s with Bryce. Are you planning to run away?” I asked, noting the way her skin paled. “You should stop hiding.”
Hanah returned her gaze to me, and the ordinarily soft-spoken girl replied, “I’m not hiding from her. And stop posturing;youdon’t scare me.”
I frowned at her. It was true, though, that besides my quintetand my family, the only people who didn’t fear me were a handful of witches.
It was a bit refreshing. But Hanah’s personality was so mild that I’d always wondered, “Why not?”
“It bothers you when others are frightened of you,” Hanah replied. She sounded so confident that it made me pause. “You like to take care of people. That’s why you’re studying to be a doctor. You want to be seen helping others, not only the scary bits.”
I frowned at her. How very wrong she was.
There was only one person in the world whose opinion I cared about.
“I’m in medical school because it teaches me the best way to destroy people,” I explained. I’d do my job as a doctor and do it well, but the knowledge gained was most advantageous for my real purpose.
Hanah laughed. “Sure, Julian. Whatever you say.”
I wasn’t lying.
