Page 37 of Queen of Vengeance

His green eyes flashed above Chika’s head as he spotted me staring at him from across the courtyard.

My brows furrowed deeply as I signaled for him to come to me.

His shoulders rose and fell as if he breathed deeply, preparing himself.

I watched as he motioned for Zane and Chika to go on ahead of him before he began approaching me.

Both Zane and Chika stopped in their tracks and watched.

Bewilderment was more than evident on their faces.

They wanted to follow him to see what was happening, but it was better they stayed out of this matter.

The less people that knew, the better.

Jax tucked his fists into his pockets and stood before me, turning his head away so the breeze didn’t blow his hair into his eyes. “You summoned me?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and breathed, hoping that would calm me… It didn’t. As I tried to think of how to word what I wanted to say, I watched the facade on his face crumble.

Panic filled his eyes. “What’s that worried look for, Lea?”

He lingered on the syllables of my name, knowing it would affect me.

“Please tell me that it wasn’t you that I saw yesterday. I keep trying to convince myself that maybe I hit my head because there was no way that someone with such a promising future at this school would risk it by stealing from a Healing Center.” I jumped from the stone wall and stood tall before him, but he still towered over me.

“You’re right. That would be very foolish of me to risk my future for something small.” He crossed his arms as a smirk played in the corner of his mouth. He must have thought he was being so clever, perhaps too clever for his own good. “Did you ever consider that maybe I wasn’t doing it for something small?”

“It doesn’t matter why you did it, Jax. It’s wrong. People got hurt—people from our village. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Out of all my years of admiring Jax, I never realized how stubborn he was until now. What I said didn’t matter; he would feel vindicated in his choice.

“They’ll be fine. You don’t understand what it’s like to have so much potential and ambition only to be kept down because you weren’t born into a rich family!” He was careful not to raise his voice but stressed his words to let me know he was angry. He must have thought I would buckle immediately by doing that. He looked shocked when I didn’t.

“You think I don’t know what that’s like? Everyone in this village understands. What you don’t get is that you’re not the only person in the world. If you have to get to the top by crushing the people around you, you don’t deserve to be at the top.” This was the first time in my whole life I had felt a hint of resentment toward Jax. I wondered how many things I allowed him to get away with until now.

The position of his eyebrows flickered as he tried to think of a comeback. “We need that money. There is no way to get a good Potion’s Agent without it. Don’t you see? They rigged the game against us. Will never get ahead if we don’t cheat a little.”

I fall silent. What was I supposed to say to that?

He has it in his head that we could still get ahead by doing things incorrectly.

“What kind of person will you be at the end if you continue down this road?” My voice softened, unable to fight with him anymore. I knew it was a losing battle, but I had to try.

He also went silent and turned to lean against the stone wall and look up at the trees. He breathed in deeply, holding it in momentarily before sighing heavily. “Have you ever seen Vermil in person before?”

Vermil? What’s he on about? Probably trying to change the subject.

“I don’t know what that is,” I admitted, using my hand to squeeze my shoulder awkwardly.

“Vermil is a white stone used to build the capital city. It’s strong, expensive, and hard to come by. My uncle is the only one that’s been to Theskin and seen the beautiful white buildings.” I looked up to see serenity wash over his face like he was imagining seeing it.

“Why are you telling me this?” I grew impatient, waiting for an explanation.

He turned slowly to look at me.

His deep green eyes burned into me, and I suddenly lost the courage to continue interrogating him.

“I want to see those white stone buildings. I want you to see them too, Lea. We could see them together. Wouldn’t that be nice?” His eyes held mine with an unmatched gravity as his hand reached out, grazing against my unprepared fingers.

My heart skipped a beat at that moment.

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