Page 34 of The Hunt of Night

“I’m sure you would,” she snickers, shaking her head at me.

“The least I could do is cause him a little pain,” I push, considering how best to do it, and she sighs.

“I don’t know. I can see the pain in his eyes already.”

Well then. Looking at her, I see the nerves flickering in her expression. “But you can’t bring yourself to ask him,” I murmur, earning a nod as I speak her truth. “Men,” I grumble with a sigh, earning another burst of laughter.

“Yes, plural, definitely in your case,” she muses, effectively redirecting the conversation, and I let her.

“I don’t even know which one of them is the worst.” I slump back against the headboard, certain there’s no room for any more pizza in my stomach.

“Definitely Raiden or Cassian,” she declares, and I scoff.

“That’s accurate.”

I feel her eyes on me, assessing, searching, until she finally just asks. “What’s changed this week?”

Peering at her out of the corner of my eye, I sigh before I unleash everything. The trial, Vallie, The Council, Raiden, Nora. Everything.

“I’ll fight them,” she blurts, using my words, and I grin. “All of them,” she adds, nodding in agreement with herself. “You might need to help me because we both know I’m lacking, but?—”

“We’re good. I think I’m struggling with the reality that I care.” I don’t know where the words come from, but they floor me nonetheless.

“About?” She knows, I can see it in her eyes. She just wants me to say it.

“Them.” It’s barely more than a whisper.

“You’re blushing.” Her pointed finger is aimed at the heat I feel in my neck, and I turn away from her as if that’s going to make a difference.

“I am not.”

“If you say so,” she mutters, and I pretend I’m focused on the screen. “It explains why Vallie was a bitch at lunch,” she adds, effectively earning my attention again.

“She’s back?”

“Like she never left. I wouldn’t have even known if you hadn’t just explained.”

“What did she do?”

“Nothing different from usual. She overused that dumb nickname for Raiden that makes bile burn my throat, but it was excellent. Raiden threatened to destroy her.” Her hands are animated as she giddily explains everything that happened, then her face suddenly drops. “He may have also said some things.”

“Some things?”

“Like that her father is dead.”

Fuck. Of course he did.

“How delighted was he to share the fact?” I murmur, my nails biting into my palms as I exhale slowly, and Flora snickers.

“Too much. Although, is it too much when it’s still a classic expectation from Raiden at this stage?” she asks with a quirk of her brow, and I scoff.

“Does that mean there’s a psycho vampire bitch on the hunt for me now?”

Flora’s nose crinkles as she smiles at me. “He didn’t mention your name, but even if it wasn’t you, I think we would find you at the end of her wrath anyway,” she admits, and I hum in agreement.

At least now she actually has a reason to put a target on my head, I guess. But one fact remains, and it lingers deep into the night, swirling in my mind on repeat. Somebody has to destroy her.

And all I can hope for is that I will get to do the honors, just like I did with her father.

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