Page 128 of Priest and his Anarchist

My teeth clench.

“Son.” A simple word. “Remember that everything is as it seems for a reason. She was on Perdita for a reason.”

“I know.” But he doesn’t know exactly how much.

As soon as he’s disappearing down the road, I flick my cigarette onto the pavement. Bringing in Lilith, Eli, and Kyrin was my last resort.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re about to unleash chaos?” Halen muses, filling Dad’s spot.

“Oh, because I am.” I keep my focus on the window, where shadows dance against each other to music. No doubt Vaden prancing her around like a trophy.

“Do I need to warn anyone?” Even as a child, Halen felt like she always needed to protect me. She didn’t need to, but that was the nature of her. She’d do that shit without ever realizing. Without hesitation. To the point of annoyance, but more so, she never did it for me.

She did it for the safety of everyone around me.

“No. Better to keep it as a surprise.” I stomp up the steps and push open the front door, ignoring Halen’s unease as she breezes past me and back into the lounge.

My intention when I built this house was to have a quiet place. Dark. A replica of my mind and everything that doesn’t go on inside of it.

I lean against the frame, crossing my arms in front of myself as Vaden falls onto the sofa beside a giggling…her. She snuggles into his neck, and I feel…

Nothing.

The feelings I once had for this girl no longer exist. I don’t know when it happened or how it did, but I look at her, and I see…nothing.

I feel nothing.

But when he fucked Luna, I felt everything.

The Kings wanted to use her as the ultimate Rebellis. The distracter. Dad was right all those years ago when he told Lilith that she would be the best that ever came from this line. Even better than Eli, and Eli was mischief and chaos. The perfect rebel.

“You’ve all wanted to know what happens during a Hunt—” I look between all of the girls, purposely ignoring the one beside Vaden.

“A long time…” Stella rolls her eyes, flicking beneath her nails as if bored. “So what is it? Do spill.”

I seeherleg moving in the corner of my eye, but it’s the easiest ignore in the history of me ever ignoring her.

“Meet at Halen’s bend.”

War pauses in passing after everyone spills out to their cars. “I didn’t like it the first night it started, and I still don’t, especially now that you’ve decided to involve your sister.” He looks between me and the front door. “What are you going to do, Priest? How is she going to proceed?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you the same question? Only, what is your plan with Halen? Is she going to continue playing house on an island that’s the fairy-tale side of the nightmare that isPerdita, or is she going to sit beside you as your wife and do as she’s told? Because you and I both know that you cannot have both.”

His mouth closes and then opens again. He blows out a breath, turning toward the direction that the girls went through the front door. “I don’t know. She’s not going to sit beside me as a quiet woman. You know your sister. She has more her father than mother.”

“Wrong answer.”

I hold his stare. He looks at me like I should know all the answers. He always has. When he started fucking around with Halen—even more publicly than they thought I didn’t know—he needed more guidance than ever. We all knew it. The man was in fucking love. He wasn’t making the right choices, and if anything, I swore our time wouldn’t be clouded by something so fragile like love. This is a castle made of steel, not glass.

“Yeah. I know. She’ll be seated beside me.”

I hold in my laugh. “Good luck.”

We both turn to Vaden when he clears his throat. “You sure this is a good idea?”

Swiping my keys off the table, I grin at him. “Have you no trust?”

Vaden, War, and Deacon all answer together. “No.”

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