Page 4 of Fate of the Fallen
Several seconds passed, but then his fingers twitched a bit and I knew he was considering it. It wasn’t until he sighed deeply and reached toward his hip that I knew he caved.
“Make it quick,” he grumbled, glancing left and right before placing my one link to the outside world in my hand.
“Thank you,” I said in a rush, darting toward the back of my cell, already dialing Roz’s number.
It rang, and with each tone my stomach sank a little lower.
“Hello?”
The sound of her voice drew a deep breath from my lungs. Right away, I felt lighter, like a ginormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The darkness within even seemed to recede just a bit.
“Nick, is that you?” She was nearly frantic when asking, but kept her voice low. If I had to guess, word of my behavior had spread and her father wouldn’t appreciate me calling.
“It is, and I’m okay, but … I won’t be able to see you for a bit and I didn’t want you to worry,” I sighed, vaguely explaining my circumstances.
“Too late,” she replied, her voice clearly trembling when she went on. “I’m already worried. I can …feelit,” she explained.
I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I asked, “Feel what?”
“That you’re different,” she blurted. The words came without thought because she didn’t doubt them for a second. SheknewI’d been triggered.
Because, like she said, she felt it.
I had no idea how that was possible, if it was normal or just an‘us’thing, or just aRozthing.
“After I left your place this morning, when I got back home, there were people here,” she added, her words drawing my focus in completely.
“People?” I asked.
“Yeah. As in … an Elder, the Chancellor,” she added.
I frowned, immediately thinking this had something to do with me, with the bodies, or … something, but when she said more, I knew that wasn’t the case.
“Nick, I … there’s something you need to know,” she began. “Something’s happening to me. I told you some of it—like my dad not being able to control me like before—but … apparently there’s more to it than that,” she scoffed, sounding confused and distant. I couldn’t help but to wish I was there with her, in the flesh to comfort her through whatever this‘something’might have been.
“Are you … okay?” I asked, unable to deny my concern.
“I can’t really get into it right now, but I’ll try to explain when I can,” she promised, pivoting the conversation again the next second. “Is there anything I can do to help. Anything I can say to the Council?” she offered.
The question was sincere and the innocence of it brought out a smile I didn’t even know I had in me.
“I wish, but … no,” I sighed. “I don’t think there’s anythinganyonecould say at this point.”
The reality of that was all I could think about until Roz spoke again.
“Well, what changed?” she asked. “What made the switch get flipped? Was it the bodies?”
My eyelids drifted closed as I recaptured that moment, the instant the intent of my visit had gone from wanting to warn Evie, to wanting to feel her blood on my hands.
“Evie’s … she’s … there’s a kid,” I forced out, painfully aware of how hard those words were to say.
It was more than just feeling ashamed that my sinister intentions to kill became even more wicked knowing she carried a child. It was also strange to think of her in that way. Strange to think of what this all said of her deepening connection to Liam.
A familiar feeling pinged in the center of my chest and I forced it into submission with the acknowledgement of what it was—a stray trace of emotion that had no place in my life for so many reasons.
Jealousy.
Roz had grown to mean something to me, more than what I ever saw coming. Plus, I’d long since accepted that Evie and I were only ever meant to be friends. Still, there was no denying the burn I felt at the thought of how this all came to be.