Page 67 of A Sky of Storms
I looked over at the Potentials who were glancing at Ace nervously, giving him a wide berth as they worked to set spears and sharpened branches into the earth. I snorted. “You wantmeto deal with him? I’m more likely to end up with a spear in my gut than anyone.”
She looked me up and down with a raised brow. “Well you’re the one that ground up and down onhisspear, you sort it out.”
With a huff, I gave her a look that promised death and stalked towards him. “Hey.”
“Come back for round two, Princess?” He sneered.
“In your dreams,” I scoffed, glaring at him. “Stop fucking around with the other Potentials and let them work in peace. Or maybe it’ll be your head on one of these spikes.”
“You think because you’ve got the other guys wrapped around your little finger that you can tell me what to do?”
I pouted, bending over and talking to him as though he was a child. “Do I need to put you in the naughty corner? Does Ace need a timeout so he can get all his raging hormones in check?”
He hissed, storming towards me, his grey eyes flashing like lightning. “Trying to get me alone so you can bounce on my lap, Princess? You could just ask if you’re so desperate to go again.”
“Been there, done that, won’t be trying it again.” I smirked. “Just play nice, okay? These people are your allies, not your enemies. When Victoria comes knocking, one of these Potentials could save your life, but if you treat people like shit, you’ll be on your own.”
“I’ve always been on my own,” he snarled, his words tainted by bitterness. Was that regret I’d heard? Or sadness? “Always was, always will be.”
I looked at him sadly, and his lips curled as he gazed back, his fists shaking by his sides. He was hurting, I realised. Something had happened to him to make him lose his faith in humanity, and life had twisted him into this bitter creature. Ace had seen and done things people don’t forget, and I couldn’t imagine what life had been like growing up in a gang.
I’d considered it before but … we really weren’t that different after all. Just swap out the monsters and the shoe fit. Ace was hateful and brutal, but I had to believe there was a light in there too. I had to … for me as well.
My heart fluttered with sadness, because maybe he didn’t have an Ethan or a Hadley to uplift him or remind him that it was all worth it. Maybe he didn’t even understand what true love or loyalty was.
I sighed, shaking my head slowly. “If that’s what you really think, then I feel sorry for you. I know what it’s like to be treated like shit, to be abused, beat down and forgotten, but the world is so much more than that, and people have so much more to offer. So you better try harder, Ace, to make friends or find your family, or you’ll die alone, just like you lived.”
“I like being alone, Princess. I’m the only one I can rely on.” He looked at me in disgust, his lips curling into a sneer. “Take your pity and give it to someone who gives a shit.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but he’d already stormed off. A violent hurricane that could not be tempered. The question was, why did I even want to try?
TomorrowI’dbeonestep closer to discovering what was happening to the people of Verdant Plateau. Mark Leroy may be dead, but whoever was coming from House Jupiter to collect the delivery on the twenty-first day of this trial was not.
I had been careful to keep the map and compass hidden, working out the best route to get to the meeting spot marked on the map I’d stolen in quiet, private moments. I felt a little guilty not showing the others, but I wasn’t ready to let them all in on my investigation. I couldn’t let them jeopardise my work. The twins needed me—all my people did.
“Are you going to meet them tomorrow?” Ace asked from where he leant against the tree. His face was a mask of calm, but the way his steely eyes scanned the perimeter suggested he was itching for some action.
Dammit, how did he know about tomorrow?
“Who?” I asked, rolling my neck slowly, playing pretend.
Ace flicked his eyes at me knowingly, the scowl on his lips lifting to a thin smile. “Don’t play dumb, Noah, it’s beneath you. I mean whoever the fuck Mark was planning to trade those people to. I was there, remember? I heard bits and pieces of what they were saying.”
We were on guard duty outside the garrison. Ace and Kayden had gotten into another brawl, so I’d suggested I take Kayden’s spot. The two of them together spelled trouble … and not just for each other.
Besides, I needed time to think and Ace needed to cool off. Seemed like a win-win. Except now he was asking questions I didn’t want him to. He helped me rescue those people from Mark’s lackeys and I was all for him working with us to get through the trial, but that’s where our alliance ended. Katie and Rena’s lives weren’t worth the risk.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying not to let my irritation show.
He raised a brow as he toyed with his knife. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, I have memory loss. It’s a heavy burden to bear,” I said, folding my arms as I gave him the side-eye. “But let’s say I was meeting them, what then?”
“I’d say you could use some backup,” he said. “This place is overcrowded and Zane is doing my head in. Unless you’d rather I stay and take my frustrations out on him?”
I grunted noncommittally.
I didn’t know how I felt about his offer and whether I could actually trust him not to be working an angle. Ace was not the kind of person to do something out of the goodness of his heart—if he even had one. Everything was a deal, a give and take.
