Page 35 of Their Will be Done

“Do you honestly think we live in a world where you have rights?” He arches against me, pressing me into the ridge of the shelf. I wince, but quickly smooth my face.

Don’t show a flicker of what you’re feeling, Trinity. Cass says they can read me like a book? Well it’s time I closed the goddamn cover.

“Of course I have—”

“Wrong,” he cuts in, grabbing my jaw. “This is the real world. And in the real world, you’re not special, Trinity.” His eyes grow hooded. “None of us are.”

I grab his wrist. He’s too strong for me to pull him away but at least this way I can feel his pulse.

It should be racing, like mine.

But it’s dead calm.

Fear worms deep into me and starts squirming around in my intestines like a fat snake.

I didn’t expect anyone to be here. I could have sworn they’d said it was risky staying out here. That they all went back to the dorms at night. But I guess he couldn’t go back reeking of weed and booze like he does. Or with that purplish bruise on his jaw. He’s in no state to be seen outside of these walls.

And I’m not safe down here with him.

“I should leave,” I say.

“You should never have come.” He ducks lower, his glare pinning me like a butterfly to a corkboard. “Tell me, little girl, whydidyou come?”

He’d see right through me if I lied. And honestly, how much worse could I make this?

“Because I don’t trust you. Any of you.” I swallow hard and muster up every bit of courage I have left. “But you can change that. Tell me. Tell me everything.”

His lips quirk into a dark smile. “Everything?” he murmurs.

He tucks a curl behind my ear before trailing his fingers down my jaw. It shouldn’t, but that touch sends a thrill down my spine.

It could be fear masquerading as something else, but I have a feeling it’s not. I’m trapped in the lion’s den and instead of looking for a way out, I’m poking the fucking lion.

IknowFather Gabriel isn’t capable of hurting anyone. But that doesn’t matter to the Brotherhood, does it? I’ve been drawn into their war, despite my protests.

I don’t have a choice but to fight but I’m going to make sure I’m on the right side of the battle line first.

“You couldn’t handle hearing what happened to us in one day, never mind theyearswe spent down there,” Zachary says.

“We? It’s alwayswe.” I poke him right between the dripping fangs of his snake tattoo. “I want to know aboutyou. I want to know what kind of personyouare. How else can I trust you?”

He laughs. “You want to know what kind of person I am, Trinity?”

The only warning I have is the darkness shadowing his eyes as he scans my body.

Zachary grabs me, spins me, shoves me.

Hard.

I tumble over the arm of the couch, barely stopping myself from bouncing onto the floor. Expecting him to pounce on me—perhaps even try what Cass tried—I scramble into a sit. But he just stands there watching me, his chest heaving like he went three rounds with the world champion.

“I used to think I was a good person, back when I was a kid.” His hands curl into fists and then open again as he steps closer. “Thought I’d become something great. Astronaut, doctor. The usual shit kids fantasize about.”

In my fantasies, I was a ballerina. But my parents made it clear that the only career they approved of was me becoming someone’s wife and, eventually, someone’s mother.

It didn’t faze me that much. I was probably too short to be a ballerina anyway.

Zachary moves to the front of the couch. And I stay right where I am, because for the first time since I’ve been pressing him for information about his past, I’m actually getting what I want.

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