Page 23 of Broken Fate
Two shifters I didn’t recognize sat in the middle of the courtyard, eating food while laughing and conversing. Just like I would see anywhere in Canis Empire. It was a stark reminder that, despite what had happened on Fate Night, there were stillpeoplethat I was with. They weren’t automatons. They lived and breathed.
And they’dchosenthis life. Chosen to rebel, to go against the immortal Alphas and their legions. Chosen to fightagainstthe life that seemed so normal to everyone else. I pondered that for a moment.
Did my parents understand? Did they know the ugly truth of Arcadus and his inner council? Were they aware of the prison and the torture that went on and just looked the other way? It seemed hard to believe I was the only one naïve enough to still think the Alphas were good. Othersmustthink so … Right?
But if that were the case, then why were there no whispers of rebellion, of unhappiness? Surely, I would have heard at leastsomeof that. Clive had, and he’d even joined up!
I frowned, trying to figure out where he would have heard such things without me. We were so close. We shared everything.
No, I corrected, shaking my head as the shifters below departed the courtyard, their meal finished. No, Clive and Ihadbeen close. We had sharedalmosteverything. But apparently not this.
“And why not?” I found myself asking out loud in the empty room, demanding answers that only one person could provide. “Why did he keep this from me?”
Sudden determination infused my spine, and I went for the door, intending to find Clive and ask him when the hell he’d gone from my short, nerdy best friend to this sword-wielding rebel. And, more importantly,why had he hidden it from me?
I opened the door and, instead of walking into the hallway, bounced my nose off the breastbone of a tall, muscular shifter.
“Oh, sorry, Kiel, I …”
Only it wasn’t Kiel.
“Hi, Jada,” Clive said.
I backed my nose out from between his pecs, cranking my neck up to look at my best friend. When had he gotten so tall? And put on so much muscle? I frowned. He’d always been short-and-nerdy Clive. It was literally my term of endearment for him.
But Clive was neither short nor nerdy any longer, and I had somehow failed to notice him growing into a man.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly as I tried to rearrange my mental picture of Clive.
He wore a plain gray t-shirt, and if his biceps didn’t push the seams to the limit quite as much as Kiel, they were still pulled taut over the hard muscle. For that matter, his shoulders were so broad they probably stretched the neck out as well.
“Sorry if I interrupted something,” he said uncomfortably, shifting his weight from side to side, which did impressive things to his physique.
“Uh, you didn’t,” I replied, licking my lips and pulling my eyes away from his arms. It wasClive!“I was actually coming for you. Um, to find you, I mean.”
“I understand,” he said gravely.
“Do you?”
He nodded, a hint of the boyish smile of my best friend ghosting his face. “Yes, I think so. I assume you have some questions.”
“Some, yes,” I confirmed, our tone making it clear that it was more than some.
“Here or elsewhere?” he said.
My stomach rumbled its way into our conversation, and I chuckled as he dropped his gaze to the source of the noise in surprise.
“Got any food we can have while talking?” I asked, my laughter fading.
Things had changed. I had seen things. Done things. Laughing over stomach noises like children no longer seemed entirely appropriate. Not when someone had died so I could have a meal.
I knew that thinking about it that way was probably next to useless. I hadn’t killed Darris, the lookout, but he was still dead because they’d attempted to rescueme.
Stop. You were just telling yourself how those shifters in the courtyardchoseto be here. Well, Darris chose to be there as well. None of this is your fault.
That eased the insecure guilt building in my chest but didn’t completely wipe it out.
The two of us walked in silence to the kitchens. Sadness soon outweighed guilt as I tried to find some source of conversation with my best friend and failed. Nothing seemed appropriate anymore. That easy, casual friendship we’d had for so many years was gone.
