Page 82 of Forging Darkness

Pieces start to fall into place.

“That’s how the Fallen and Forsaken found out about me at all. How you found out about me. Because my own mother told you.”

Betrayal stings like a fresh slap, heating my cheeks. I suppose it’s not fair of me to feel that way; once she became a Forsaken, she wasn’t truly my mother anymore. But logic doesn’t soothe my jagged emotions. Like an exposed nerve, they vibrate with agony.

I’m staring at my hands when Thorne’s softly spoken words drift over me.

“You’re going to help us one way or another. I’d just like it to be willingly.”

It takes a moment for his words to register, but when they do, blood turns to sludge in my veins. Muscles tense, I snap my gaze up to his face.

“That sounded an awful lot like a threat.”

The moment stretches between us.

“You’ll be brought your meals,” he finally says with a shake of his head, then leaves without meeting my eyes, closing the door soundlessly behind him. The bolt on the door slides into place, locking me inside.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Someone is here.

My eyes pop open, and I jackknife up, my gaze landing on the platter of food at the bottom of the bed before anything else. No light filters through my window, telling me I’ve not only slept through someone entering the room to deliver food, but also the day.

Dang. I’m getting rusty.

“Your soup’s cold.”

Swiping my hand under the pillow, I palm my makeshift mirror blade and send it sailing through the air. Silver only just manages to move her pasty face out of the way. The weapon sinks into the chair’s stuffing where her head just was—pity—but manages to slice off two oily tendrils of hair. She picks them up and shoots me a “what the heck” look.

I’m on my feet in an instant. “What are you doing in here?”

My wings and armor have disappeared during my nap and I’m left in what I had on before I morphed—yoga pants, sports bra, and loose fitting t-shirt. Not exactly the protective gear I want to be wearing if I’m about to have a faceoff with a vicious Forsaken, but it’ll have to do.

“You could have seriously hurt me.”

Is she expecting an apology?

“I’m only upset that I missed.”

“And that’s the gratitude I get for bringing you a gift.”

“What are you talking about?”

A slow smile spreads across her face, stretching her cracked lips.

Gosh, Forsaken really are ugly.

She gestures to the foot of my bed. “Your dinner, of course.”

My gaze flicks to the platter again. “There’s not even soup on there.”

She raises a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Details.”

“Great, you fetched my food. Time for you to run along.”

Silver stands and moves to the fireplace, pretending to warm her hands in front of it. “Oh, I don’t know that I feel like leaving just yet.”

“Why not?”

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