Page 168 of A Bond with the Dark

Adding to my already twisted and mangled sense of reality is the fact that not only did I lose my girl, but my fucking brother is there to swoop in and pick up the pieces of her that I broke.

A BOND WITH THE BLOOD OF ANGELS

SAYAH

The water at the bottom of Deception Pass looks cold as it churns in the rocky depths of the cliff's ledge beneath us, representing the feelings that I have coagulating and warring within me.

Don't get me started about the fact that I'm sitting on a cliff named Deception Pass.

It only adds fuel to the raging fire within me.

My literal fire and the proverbial fire.

It's late spring now, and the trees bend together like cautious whispers, glowing green in the sunset's austere light. The wind's cold in Washington, causing me to shiver severely; my only means of cover is a light hoodie my aunt Hilda loaned me.

I sit on a rock at the top beside the bridge that goes over the two points, next to Sebastian, who is trying hard to say things that make me feel better, but they do not.

Everything was making sense to me, and I was starting to see the world before me in a crystal-clear clarity I hadn't had in all my life. All the suffering I'd experienced throughout my life has had a purpose, a more significant meaning.

I died.

The old me is gone.

In a tragic twist of fate, Dom is the reason that my parents are dead. That my grandma and aunt died. The whole reason why I met him was he had come to Colorado to hunt me.

I feel like I'm going to throw up.

“I know you're spiraling right now,” Bash says softly. “But he didn't know it was your parents. My brother is a selfless martyr. He wouldn't have done it knowingly.”

“He still lied about not living in Colorado and coming there to stop people from killing me. Things I should have been in the know about.”

“Yeah,” he says, picking at a rip in his black jeans. “That is true.”

“I know you don't know me that well, but honesty is something that Ihaveto have in any relationship. Once that trust is broken, it's never the same. Even if I learn to forgive him for what he did to my poor, sweet mom and stepdad”—I choke back the tears—“there will always be that fissure there. The foundation is cracked. It'll never be the same.”

“Well, you'll have to figure out how to forgive him. We need him around to get that mark off him so he doesn't go dark and kill you and your son.”

“I also have to find a way to get to Laureya and make amends with her so she will help me kill Mederio.”

“Sayah,” says Dom's voice from behind us.

“The fuck are you doing here?” I say, standing.

“Sayah. I know you hate me right now. Believe me. I hate me too.” His voice is dejected, his eyes blown wide like dark saucers of midnight.

“What do you want me to say, Dom? Whether or not you meant to, you still killed my parents . . . my mama. I can't look at you right now.”

“I know,” he says, stepping closer to me. “Please, Sayah, listen to me . . .”

“You touch her, you die,” Bash says, coming in between us, and I'm taken aback by his protectiveness of me suddenly.

“Really, Bash?” Dom says, squaring up to him.

Bash, in turn, puffs his chest out and steps into Dom's face.

For fuck's sake.

“Guys, not now,” I say, separating them. “Please. I don't need either one of you going dark right now. That's the last thing that we need.”

---