Page 3 of Forging Darkness

I press a hand to the floor beneath me. The thought of Steel going up against his sister sends earthquakes of trepidation rolling through my body.

Silver isn’t your average Forsaken. She’s cunning and strong and somehow seems to have retained part of herself even after being possessed by a Fallen. She’s dangerous in a way I don’t fully understand.

Steel doesn’t want to admit it, but he needs help.

My fingers curl as the silence stretches and pulls. My nails scrape across the porcelain tiles as if dragged against a chalkboard.

“I have to.” And then the line goes dead.

I lower the phone from my ear, but my grip tightens until it snaps. I’ve broken the glass screen. A long fissure splinters its way from the bottom corner to the top.

I tap the screen and only feel a mild sense of relief that it’s still working. What I really want to do is yell in frustration, but I don’t want to wake Ash, so instead I simply squeeze my eyes shut and let my head fall back and bump into the wall.

Relief that Steel is still alive and safe wars with fury at his refusal to accept help. And although I’m glad he’s at least checking in with someone, he’s put me in an impossible position.

Now that I know he’s actually found Silver, I don’t know if I can keep this secret anymore.

The room brightens behind my shut lids, and I blink them open. Ash stands in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. The pink eye-mask she wears is pushed up on her head, keeping her hair off her forehead.

The girl gets epic bedhead when she’s too lazy to wrap her hair before sleeping, like tonight. The curls on one side of her head are squished flat against her scalp, while those on the other are fanned out in an afro. She’s rocking a half-mohawk that’s going to be a nightmare for her in the morning.

After shuffling a few steps forward into the bathroom, Ash catches sight of me folded in the corner. She tilts her head and draws her eyebrows together.

“You okay?” she croaks, her voice heavy with sleep.

Pressing my lips together, I shake my head before pushing to my feet. This weight is too heavy for me to bear alone.

“We need to talk.”

Chapter Two

“He just breathes into the phone? That’s very Stalker 101. He’s going to tarnish the family name with courting skills like that.”

“Something to share with the class, Mr. Durand?”

“Oh snap, bro. He just ‘Mr. Durand-ed’ you. You’re in trouble.”

Greyson levels his twin with a harsh glare before apologizing to Seth for interrupting his demonstration. But as soon as Seth goes back to showing the benefits of defensive sparring, Greyson’s interrogation resumes.

How long have we been communicating? Did Steel tell me not to tell them he was calling? Did I know where he was? How heavy was his breathing?

What made me think combat class was the perfect time to tell the twins about my midnight phone liaisons? Oh right, Ash wouldn’t let me keep the secret for a moment longer and forced my hand as soon as we ran into the brothers, which happened to be during mid-day training.

I scowl at her before quietly trying to answer Greyson’s questions. She returns my glare with narrowed eyes. She wasn’t happy I’d kept Steel’s calls a secret and had been very vocal about her opinions last night. I felt berated as well as defensive.

“He’s only spoken once,” I whisper-hiss back at Greyson, worried I’ll get called out as well. I hate having a class full of eyes on me. Greyson doesn’t share the same concerns.

“If he only talked once, how do you even know it was him?”

That was the question I was hoping to avoid, but knew I wouldn’t be able to.

“I could just . . . tell.”

Greyson’s mouth puckers and twists to the side as he considers my weak explanation. His gaze bounces around my face as if he’ll learn some truth in one of its contours. After a beat, he moves on without pressing me further on the subject. I hold in my sigh of relief.

“And when he did speak, he only said, ‘I found her’?”

“Yeah.”

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