Page 22 of Imbalance
I tried to not overthink the fact that she was probably naked in a hot pool of water right now, in the damned salt chamber with Adrien and Damien. I knew how much she trusted them, and I knew how easily she let them touch her, something I envied greatly. I just felt such a large divide between myself and Ama, and I had no idea how to fix it. Had I even decided I wanted to fix it? I suppose I had.
I followed his gaze and saw a vendor waving to him, so I folded my arms across my chest and asked, "Do I need coin for the room?"
"Just tell them Jace sent you." He waved his hand dismissively as I muttered a curse under my breath and walked into The Hellhound, eyeing the crowd inside, most of whom were staring at me with enough malice it made me consider leaving. I was an intimidating individual, I knew that about myself, but when it came to fights, it could easily turn into a numbers game, and I would lose. Instead of leaving, though, I kept my chin up and walked towards the bartender near the front, hearing his laughter fill the space, despite how noisy and crowded it was.
I put my hand down on the counter, and the large bastard offered me a speculative glance before going back to his conversation, showing me that he was going to fucking make me try to talk over the noise of the room. I leaned forward and shouted, "Are you James?"
"Who's asking?" he demanded, his friends smiling as if my question was somehow amusing.
"Jace sent me to ask you for room availability for the night."
"Bullshit," he retorted sharply, waving his hand at me, "Fuck off."
"He did," I argued, looking around and noticing that Jace was nowhere to be found so I could prove my point. I looked back at the man as he offered me an amused, yet somehow contradictorily angry, expression.
"Even if he did, not even Jace could convince me to give a piece of trash like you a room at my inn," he chuckled. "So like I said, fuck off."
Yeah, I was about at my limit with his rude remarks.
Easily jumping over the counter and landing on the other side, I slammed him back up against the bar, silencing the room as I let out a dangerous sound. "Do you know who I am?"
"A pure-blood prick," he hissed, "I don't give a fuck who you are."
"Room. Now." I hissed.
I didn't expect the hit to the back of my head or the hands that dragged me off the bartender as I was thrown to the ground by several men. I groaned as a well-aimed kick hit me in the gut, followed by the sound of cheers at my obvious pain.
Fuck. These people were awful. All this animosity because I was different from them?
My eyes widened at the harsh truth that hit me in the gut harder than any kick could have managed...Ama had felt this way. For so fucking long, she had felt this exact way. This was how the people of Pura treated hybrids.
Someone's hand gripped my hair as a knife was placed against my throat. I closed my eyes, stunned by both my realization and the pounding in my head from being thrown to the ground.
Honestly, with how shitty I was feeling at that moment, I wouldn't have even cared about them killing me. Alright, that was dramatic, but fuck. How the hell was I ever going to make it up to Ama, now that I was acutely aware of the type of bullying she had lived through.
"Stop." Jace's voice echoed through the room, reverberating through the small space with ease.
Instantly, everything stopped. The musicians ended on a broken note, and murmured conversations around us turned almost excited. The men let go of me, and I stumbled to stand, pushing my hair out of my face as James stared at Jace with a wide-eyed, almost fearful look.
Yeah, Jace was for sure someone important to these people.
"I thought he was bullshitting—" James sputtered to a stop as Jace put his hand up dismissively and offered him a smile that seemed to ease the tension.
"No big deal," he assured. "Can we get those rooms, though?"
The man immediately tossed him some keys, "The only rooms available."
"Thanks, man." Jace flashed a smile and motioned for me to walk out, eyes following us as we stepped out into the street. Instantly, I turned towards him, finding his smile amused and light.
"There was no one you had to talk to for food, was there? You wanted me to get treated this way," I surmised as I drew a hand down my face.
"Nope," he chuckled. "Must have sucked being on the receiving end of so much fucking anger just for being born a certain way, huh?”
"Yeah, it did," I swallowed down my pride and ego in agreement.
He grunted, seemingly not happy with my answer. He’d probably expected me to protest his statement. Following him back towards the others, I noticed they were staring at us with mild confusion.
"What's with the blood on you?" Drayven asked with an amused tone.
