Page 23 of The World Undone

I didn’t like the woman, but she had a good point. Something about having her level-headedness in the room, when the rest of us were so quick to lash out, was calming—almost like Cy or Seamus were in the room with us.

“Alright.” Jace stood, stretching, his good humor already shifting back in place, like a filter he could just switch on and off. Was that an incubus thing or was that a Jace thing? If the former, I needed to learn that shit. I had the unfortunate habit of broadcasting my emotions like a goddamn siren. “Let’s adjourn for now and we can discuss details tomorrow afternoon, once Evie has the intel we need.”

Evelyn grimaced at his jovial familiarity, which just made Jace’s smile widen, both seductive and lethal. When he winked and she flushed, I wondered if the two of them had a past…or a present.

I stood with the others, my thoughts racing as I tried to process everything we’d just learned.

I felt Darius inch closer to my back, his energy wilder than it usually was, darker as it lapped against me. It had been building for days, but between the med center and Atlas, we hadn’t had much time to chat—and any time I broached an even remotely serious conversation with him, he’d immediately loosened up and changed the subject.

When I moved towards the door, Evelyn’s eyes latched on to mine again.

“Max, a word if that’s okay?”

Charlie and the others filtered from the room, but my team stopped in their tracks, folding around me.

Evelyn cleared her throat. “Alone, if you don’t mind.”

Darius stiffened, and I watched the muscles work in Eli’s jaw.

No. Like fucking hell I’m leaving her with you.

I could have sworn I heard Eli speak the words, harsh and rigid, but his lips were firm, unmoving as he glared at his mother.

Coffee.

Izzy was right—I desperately needed a good night’s sleep. But until then, I needed to get better about properly caffeinating.

I ran my hand over his back and nodded. “Yes, that’s fine. I’ll meet you guys out front in a few.”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure Darius and Eli would leave, but I focused on them, trying like hell to convey that I’d be okay—I promised—with my eyes, that I’d call them if I needed anything.

I could fucking light the building on fire or teleport outside of it if I needed to for crying out loud. My safety wasn’t a logical concern right now.

Their eyes widened briefly, Eli’s lips parting in a soft shock.

Darius gripped his shoulders, sent a dark look towards Evelyn, and pushed him towards the door, whispering a quiet, “not here.”

Eli shook his head, like he was dazed, but then he respected the clear request and allowed Darius to move him gently away from me.

His hand lingered on the doorframe, like he was second-guessing it, but he fought the resistance and his fingers peeled away one-by-one, until he closed the door behind them both.

It was strange, being in this room alone with Eli’s mother—she seemed smaller somehow, no longer surrounded by her friends, sadder almost.

She stared at the file clutched in her hand and nodded for me to sit back down.

I took the seat across from her, the chair still warm from Eli sitting in it.

“What can I do for you?” I broke the awkward silence, not entirely sure how to act around this woman. I hated her for what she’d done to Eli, but I also knew that, right now, she was our best chance at going after The Guild. We needed her. And, as much as I hated her on Eli’s behalf, I also wanted her to like me. It was an irrational, annoying desire that I did my best to shove down and ignore—but she was the mother of the boy I loved. Part of me desperately wanted her to think I was good enough for him, even if she wasn’t.

She didn’t look up from the folders in front of her, but her lips pressed into that Eli-smirk again. My stomach clenched at the sight of it. It was just as disconcerting as seeing Wade’s eyes set in Tarren’s face. Features I adored in my team, set in the faces of parents who’d treated them cruelly. It was unsettling, to say the least.

For a moment, I studied her, hunting for more traces of her son on her face. On the surface, she didn’t obviously share any of his features. Her hair was cropped in a severe reddish-brown bob, several shades lighter than Eli’s. Her eyes were hazel, the greens weaving through threads of brown, where Eli’s held more golden tones. Her build was more petite than most protectors, her skin a shade or two paler than his.

When she was stationary, it was only her mouth that immediately gave their relationship away—both had the same shape, the same smile. But when she moved, the similarities between them became more obvious. Their expressions in motion carved clear lines of connection—the arch of her brow, the teasing intelligence behind her eyes. Eli was etched into her plain as day in the moments between frames.

“I was hoping we might have a few minutes to talk,” she started. For a moment I wondered if she was as nervous in my presence as I was in hers. If that yearning for approval that I felt echoed in her. She cleared her throat, pushing on, “Levi is quite fond of you, and Eli—” her voice cracked on his name, but it was only a brief break in the armor she wore with a fluid confidence, “I thought I should meet the girl bonded to my son. Especially when she’s tangled up in more danger than perhaps anyone in the world right now—and therefore so is my son, right along with her.”

My jaw clenched. “Oh?”

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