Kairi’s face turned red. Hallen raised his chin.
Two fast steps and she punched Hallen in the nose. He staggered back.
She laughed at nothing, and then threw up.
“Let’s get you up,” Kairi said.
“He’s left me, hasn’t he.” It wasn’t a question.
Charity’s limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each. This was much worse than the situation with her magic. She’d had Devon to help with that. Now, Devon had left. He’d left her, just like her mother, then John—
“What is it about me?” she whispered, tears hitting the floor. Hallen staggered out, holding his face. “What is it about me that pushes everyone away?”
“My allegiance is to you, Third,” Kairi said quietly. “To you alone. Your well-being is my duty, and thanks to the shifters, I know more about duty than I was ever taught by my peers. So I am not breaking my duty when I tell you that he didn’t want to leave you. It was killing him. I could see it in every line in his face, every movement of his body. He did it to help you. To give you a fresh start. He thinks you’ll be better off without him. They endured all this, without complaint, to help you. And your father saw it all. He internalized it. If you need an ally, turn to him. He will give you the world, Third. He has hidden his guilt, but it fills him still…and so does his longing to see the Brink again. It is there, waiting for you to call upon it.” She paused and tapped Charity’s head. “But if you plan to remake the mold of our people, your grandmama cannot get wind of it.”
Charity tried to push back her grief, and her insecurity, and her abandonment issues, and focus on the problem at hand.
“What?”
She’d probably need another moment.
“Internalize your suffering, speak to your father, and create a plan.”
“A plan for what?” Charity said stupidly.
Kairi tapped Charity’s head again. “We are warriors, Third, or we are meant to be. We do not curl up and die. We fight until our last breath. Decide your own fate, and take it.”
Kairi straightened up, her piece apparently said, and left the room. Charity’s heart ached for Dillon. For Macy, who had probably been raw with grief, wondering if Charity would come and speak with her. For Devon, who’d forced himself to walk away from their love.
Charity dizzied when she stood, and she realized she was still crying. Sobbing, actually. The pain cut down so deep that it felt like she was hemorrhaging inside.
“How could he do this?” She hugged herself around the middle, trying to grab on to Kairi’s words, but the sentiment proved slippery. “He knew my struggle with being abandoned by my loved ones. He hugged me and told me he—”
She realized he hadn’t assured her he would stay. No, he’d assured her he would do what was best for her.
That could mean a whole lot of things, subject to the speaker’s opinion. His opinion.
That sneaky bastard. That Seer had put him up to this, Charity would bet anything. No wonder he’d never told her what that woman had said. He hadn’t wanted Charity to blast him through the wall. He hadn’t told her about Dillon, he hadn’t told her what he planned on doing, and he certainly hadn’t asked her what she wanted. He’d taken her life into his hands and treated her like a puppet.
Just like everyone else was trying to do.
Anger flash-boiled her blood.
Kairi was right—Charity wasn’t the type to curl up and die. She knew who her home was. She knew what she wanted. And she no longer gave two shits about the Seer and her stupid ball.
It was time to take her life into her own hands. It was time to write her own destiny.Chapter Thirty-SevenCharity stalked out of the shanty, rage stretching her skin.
“‘Don’t tell Grandmama,’ is that what you said?” She stared at Kairi. “Well, I have to be honest, it’ll be pretty hard to hide this…”
She turned around and pulled forth a surge of power. Sparks lit up along the sides of the shanty right before the air concussed. Walls blew inward. The roof crashed down on top, exposing another catacomb of the horrible structures behind it.
Charity destroyed another one, but this time, she shot forth a ball of electricity and power. It slammed into a wall and then exploded in all directions, a blast of heated air rocking Charity back on her heels.
Wood burst into flame. Sparks flew in all directions.
One more surge of magic and the whole thing was down, flames licking old wood and catching like wildfire. The rest would be nothing but ash soon.
This time, she didn’t have Reagan to calm the flames down. Hopefully they had buckets.
“Third, what— Why…” Hallen couldn’t get the words out. His eyes were saucers. “They were animals. They—”