Page 36 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

Taking a step back, I point toward the man, all of my defenses on high alert.

"Do not mistake me for someone you may order around. I drank the blood. You are a damn fool if you think I will undress in front of you," I push, praying that this shirt is enough to conceal what lingers beneath this cloak.

Tearing off the cloak, the baggy sweater I had chosen to wear widens the size of my small frame, giving the man little opportunity to scan my skin. Tossing the cloak to the floor, I narrow my eyes at the man, hearing the scoff roll off of his throat.

"Happy?" I question, thankful I merely look bloated.

"Was that so hard?" Elyon questions, shaking his head at me like Andrew used to when disapproving of my actions.

"Disappointed?" I question, dripping with rage.

"Just testing a theory," Elyon gripes, both of us unwilling to reveal the true nature of this little interaction.

It's nothing.

It's nothing, Forest.

There's nothing in there.

There's no baby-

"You visited him, didn't you?" Elyon questions, shifting his focus away from his initial theory on where my wariness originated from.

Good. Perhaps his focus being on a new direction will allow me the time to process all of this for myself.

"You'll have to be specific. I know a lot of men," I snap, his eyes rolling at the statement.

"Your ring," he smiles, my body seizing at the mention of the jewelry.

Glancing down at my ring finger, the engagement ring I stole remains plastered to my finger, the true nature of him wanting to get my cloak off not to see my body, rather my hands.

There's nothing.

A pain creeps inside my torso.

It's all in your head.

Elyon knows nothing.

"I may have checked in on things," I say, the guards in my mind on high alert. "I don't need any of them sticking their noses where they don't belong."

"And that's why you took the ring?" Elyon questions, clearly off put by my willingness to hold onto Xavier.

You wretched evil.

I will burn down this whole fucking world if it means my family is safe.

Pain creeps in my stomach again.

All of my family.

"You will have to learn to let go of the past, Forest," Elyon lectures, tossing me back my cloak. "This meeting today is important. The last thing I need you doing is killing animportant ally, all because you are too absorbed in your mundane wants, hopes, and dreams."

Looking at Elyon now, he looks so defenseless, nothing like the entity in silver I chased for so long. Now, he looks like a simple man, one that would have done well in New Haven, working a cushy Untouchable job.

In fleeting moments, humanity touches his soul, making me question how he turned out the way he did.

But humans know nothing but influence.

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