Page 47 of By the Orchid and the Owl
“I think,” Emelle spoke up, “that you both deserve better anyway.”
She didn’t balk or flinch when Lander and I jerked our heads her way. In fact, she raised her chin and… was that a clenched jaw? TighteningEmelle’sface?
“You two are the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve met in a long time,” Emelle plunged on, “and if she doesn’t think you’re worth your weight in gold, then you both deserve someone who does. I agree with you, Rayna, that people shouldn’t just be abandoned on a whim… but theyshouldbe let go if they’re choosing to fill your soul with poison.”
That hardened face, I knew suddenly, came from her experience with her ex-boyfriend. The way he’d treated her—it would have fossilized something crucially soft in her, if she hadn’t got away.
And perhaps that was what Quinn’s words would do to me, if I kept trying to get her back. If I kept ruminating on what I’d done wrong and what I could have changed in the past and how we’d gotten to this rotting, wretched point.
It was Lander who said, “Thank you, Emelle.” I opened my mouth to say it, too, when Coen’s voice brushed against the inside of my mind.
What’s wrong?
Nothing’s wrong,I managed to think through my surprise. And Iwasfeeling the tiniest shade better.
You feel sad. Or relieved? I can’t tell.
Are you always perusing people’s minds to spy on their feelings?
No, he chuckled.But your mind happens to be unnaturally interesting.
I didn’t know what to say to that as warmth coiled around my body. Thankfully, Coen continued without waiting for a response.
AndI was going to invite you to play pentaball against some friends of mine and me, but if you’re going to take that tone…
Pentaball sounds great,I thought immediately. A distraction—that’s what I needed right now. Againstyou, though? Notwithyou?
Nah, I think I’ll enjoy making you flush with some nice, cathartic anger when I beat you. Besides,he added, I have my team already. You get yours and meet me on the field in five minutes.
And just like that, his smug presence left my head. Oh, how I’d love to wipe away that smile that was surely crooking his mouth right now.
I turned to Emelle and Lander.
“Feel up for a little game?”
After we’d rounded up Rodhi, Wren, and Gileon, the six of us made it to the field arena just as Coen showed up with four others.
“We’re playing againstthem?” one of his teammates said incredulously, examining all of us from head to toe and stroking his mustache. He had a narrow face, and his hair was tied back in a ponytail.
Wren scoffed at the assessment and marched over to the nearest section of the stadium, where she said she’d be content watching us mutilate each other. Each team technically only needed five players anyway; members beyond the basic five were considered backups.
Because pentaball, even without magic, got ugly. Quinn, Lander, and I had gotten our fair share of scratches and bruises playing in the streets back at home. I shuddered to think what the game would be like now with all our powers.
I didn’t shudder, however, at the idea of what Quinn might think if she saw me playing it with Coen and the others. Surely, she had to know that notallMind Manipulators used their powers like her mother had.
Still, I felt a tremor of guilt at the thought that I hadn’t helped her more. Hadn’t told Fabian and Don more about her troubles at home. Maybe something could have been done. Maybe Quinn’s mother would have stopped.
Coen’s voice grazed my mind.
Come back to me,little hurricane.
Quit eavesdropping on my internal dialogues.
There you are.I could have sworn his voice wassmiling.I almost smiled back, when I remembered—
Did you know the Good Council has been spying on you?I made a mouse friend who said she killed some spiders in your room. Apparently, they were going to report back to Dyonisia Reeve about our entire conversation.
I felt Coen’s shock flit across my mind, but it was gone in another instant.
