Page 62 of Crimson Born

“Reece?”

He glanced over at me. “Hmmm?”

“Remember that night... when you asked me if I believed in destiny?”

He huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah. What a joke.”

“What? No. I was going to say... well, I never would have predicted the turns my life has taken, but who’s to say that wasn’t my destiny, you know? And you were definitely right about us seeing each other again. If things hadn’t changed the way they did, we probably never would have crossed paths again. We wouldn’t be here now—together. So, as it turned out, what you said was true. Destiny is real.”

“That seems like a million years ago to me. I was a stupid kid, Abbi.Wewere kids. Now we’re involved in something that’s so big and so ancient, there’s no fighting it or hiding from it. You don’t see it tucked away in the Bastion, removed from the outside world, but when we go out and do our patrols, I see the signs increasing every day.”

He stopped walking and picked up a stone from the lake’s bank, rubbing it with his thumb before putting it in his pocket.

Staring out over the water’s smooth, dark surface, he continued.

“There’s a war coming. And there won’t be any surrender or terms of peace in this one. One side will win, and one will lose. I’ve got to make sure we’re on the winning side.Ifthere is such a thing as destiny, that’s mine—keeping yo—”

He stopped himself and started again. “... all of our people alive and safe.”

“Even if it means being at Imogen’s beck and call? Surely you wouldn’t be happy with an arrangement like that? Not when you could have a mate of your own.”

Slowly, Reece bent to collect another rock. “We’re not going to talk about that,” he said to the ground.

“Why not?”

Straightening, he drew his arm back. “We’re not...”

The stone flew, landing with a splash and turning the water’s glassy stillness into a broken mirror. “...going to talk about it. Come on.”

He turned and resumed the homeward trek. His pace was so fast I nearly had to jog to keep up with him.

“What if there’s another way?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if thereisno war? What if it could be prevented? We learned about the Crimson Accord in class at the Bastion. Sadie Aldritch believes peace between the species is the only way, that the Accord can still work.”

“Sadie Aldritch is a dreamer.”

“Is that what Imogen told you? When she came to see you at the clinic?”

His lips pressed into a straight, unyielding line of silence.

“You know they’re sisters, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. I heard that. So?”

“So, sisters disagree sometimes. I had two of them myself. We loved each other, but sometimes we fought like a couple of barn cats. Usually neither one of us was right. I think Sadie might be though. About peace.”

“You think so, do you?” A bitter laugh preceded a snarl. “How peaceful were the humans you encountered after turning?”

I thought back on my first couple of days as a vampire. My father had not been welcoming, but I could understand his perspective—he was in shock at the sight of me and afraid for my mother and my siblings.

The people at the hospital had been kind though. Maybe they hadn’t recognized me for what I was.

Other than them, I hadn’t interacted with any other humans before Kannon had brought me here.

Clearly Reece had encountered some—and it hadn’t been pleasant.

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