Page 5 of Destined Dawn
“You didn’t notice their prejudice and bigotry in their treatment towards me?”
“No,” he says honestly, “I guess I didn’t.”
I consider his words. I’m kind of grateful he’s owned up to that and not tried to defend his behavior or somehow justify it.
“And I’d much rather be here with you than anywhere else,” he adds.
“Because I make good eggs,” I say, pointing to the half-full shell.
“They are good. Not too runny, not overdone.”
“It comes with keeping chickens. You end up cooking and eating a lot of eggs.”
“You kept chickens?” he says, picking up his spoon again.
“Yep, it’s harder than it looks. You have to keep them happy or they won’t lay. They seemed to like listening to abit of ’50s rock’n’roll best. I used to have to sing to them.” Spencer chuckles. “We used to grow our own vegetables too – without the use of magic. We couldn’t afford to use it too often in case anyone noticed we were magicals.”
“Shit,” he says, “I can’t imagine not being able to use my magic. I get kind of scratchy if I haven’t used it in a while.” He scrapes the last of the egg from the shell. “Why were you hiding? You never told me.”
I know enough about my past, about my mom and maybe even my dad, to have my suspicions, but I want to know for sure.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “But I think it’s time we found out once and for all.”
2
Stone
I leadher back up to the bedroom, the other four men following behind us, Renzo Barone practically breathing down my neck. He seems to want to make friends. At least that’s what I think the monologue at breakfast about snapping necks was all about. Either that or he’s sizing me up, working out the best way to kill me.
I grip Rhi’s elbow a little tighter and pick up our pace, creating a little distance between me and the assassin.
In the bedroom, I tell her to lie down on the mattress.
“Are the theatrics really required?” she asks, climbing up onto the bed and lying down flat on her back. “I feel like you’re going to measure me out for a coffin.”
“I think it’s best if we do this somewhere comfortable.” I crack my knuckles, remembering the last time; how she’d flailed and writhed around on the hard floor. This time itcould be worse, more violent – who the fuck knows – and I don’t want her injuring herself. Not physically, anyway. The emotional damage heading her way seems inevitable and yet she wants to do this regardless.
I hover by the side of the bed and peer down into her face. She stares right back up at me with those honey eyes and it’s easy to forget everyone else in the room. She’s so damn beautiful – I take it for granted. But every so often, I’m struck by it all over again.
“Stone?” she says, knocking me out of my trance.
“You’re sure about this, sweetheart?” I whisper to her.
She nods, resting her hands on her stomach.
“I trust you, Stone.” And stars, I wish she wouldn’t say that. I’m not reliable. I’m not someone a girl like her should put her trust in. “I know you’ll look after me.”
I place my palm on her forehead and then bend down to kiss her lips – unable to help myself. She tastes of butter and coffee, her lips soft and wet.
Reluctantly, I pull away, sigh, and close my eyes, letting my mind wander into hers. There’s no barrier there today. She lets me stride right in, like I used to when we first met, her thoughts and her mind completely clear to me, like an open book ready for me to leaf through the pages.
Right there on the surface, I find my own face staring back at me, and then I glide through her whirring thoughts – her eagerness to learn the truth, her concerns about the five men bound to her, her fears about the future. I’d like to linger here, understand her better, but it’s an invasion into her privacy and the longer I stray into her mind, the more dangerous it is for her.
I sink deeper into her mind, through her more recent memories, images of me, of Azlan, of the others, racing pastmy eyes, past her older memories of the house, of the pig, of her aunt, and then I’m there again, back at the box.
We already unlocked it and let out all those memories, but since then Rhi has suppressed them, driven them back inside that box, to protect herself.
I feel my body tauten, my hands balling into fists.
