Page 24 of He Who Ignites The Flame
“You fucking bastards!” I shouted. “I’ll kill you!”
Calliope crumbled, her cries filling the clearing as she was dragged off back toward town, toward Father and whatever awaited us.
“Get your hands off her!” I shouted, and Atticus stepped in front of me, blocking my view as they dragged Calliope away. “You fucking bastard! I’ll rip your throat out!”
Atticus smiled cruelly at me before leaning down to pat my cheek. “Oh, I don’t think you will.”
“Barrett?” Lucia said, and I looked to find her face full of worry. Something deep in my chest twisted at the concern. I hated that I felt anything, that, despite everything I’d endured, despite everyone who had betrayed me, I still wanted to believe there might be good in her.
“Sometimes, no matter how much you fight it, the Fates have other plans,” I said, my voice eerily calm despite my clenched fists. “You may be important, but the Fates deemed me disposable. That’s all I’ll ever be: a means to someone’s end.” Her lips parted, but I didn’t give her the room to argue. “We don’t all have the blessings of a goddess,Your Majesty.”
“What did you do now?” Micah’s voice reached my ears over the sea of voices in the pub. It was a busy night, full of warriors and trainees winding down from the day’s training.
“Why do you think I did anything?” I grumbled and took a swig of the Ambrosia liquor in my glass. I grimaced at the way it burned a path down my throat, but I relished in the pain.
Pain drowned everything else out.
“What’ll it be tonight, Micah?” the pub owner, Semele, asked as she grabbed a glass, the torchlight dancing off her dark skin.
“Make it strong, Semele,” he said.
“You got it!” she called back and got to work preparing him a drink.
“Lucia looked a little defeated when I saw her earlier,” he said without looking at me. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Another sigh crawled out of my lungs, and I looked down at my half-empty glass. No matter how much I tried to ignore the guilt that had nagged at me, I couldn’t. I had avoided her ever since our conversation, hiding out here all evening.
“She doesn’t know what she’s getting involved in,” I said, knocking back the last of my drink and setting the glass down. “It’s better if she stays out of it.”
Micah huffed a laugh. “Clearly, you haven’t learned how hard-headed that female is.”
Semele slid a glass of something in front of Micah before taking my empty one.
“She doesn’t know how to give up,” he said, his voice softening. “And she won’t if she sees your worth.”
I rose from my stool, setting down a heavier than necessary amount of coin to make up for the troubles I’d caused Semele my first night out. Lucia might not have liked how I was spending the money she’d given me, but I didn’t care. She should have thought of that before she pulled me out of that cell and given me the means of getting into trouble on her watch.
Semele’s brows rose at the money before she looked at me. I dipped my head, hoping she got the message, and turned toward the doorway. “Well she can give up. I’m not some fucking charity case.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Micah said, downing his drink and jumping up from his stool. He coughed harshly. “Fuck, that shit’s strong.”
“That’s what you asked for!” Semele said with a chuckle.
I stormed out of the pub and onto the street, unable to stand the mass of conversations overtaking the pub any longer—or perhaps I was simply running away again.
Irritation swelled in my chest as Micah stumbled out behind me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Getting away from you,” I grumbled, walking blindly down the street with no clear destination. It was too early to head for the barracks, and I wasn’t ready to face Lucia again, not with the way I’d shut her out earlier. Not with the pained look she’d given me before I had left her alone in that hallway.
Micah followed after me, and I was about ready to slug the stubborn bastard. “Look, I know she put you in charge of me. IpromiseI won’t get into a fight, so you can scurry off to wherever you’d like and enjoy your evening.”
“Nope, we’re gonna get to the bottom of this,” he said with a smile, and I rolled my eyes.
I rounded the corner of an alley, not caring where we ended up. “What is with you fucking people?”
“We don’t give up on our family,” he said, meeting my long strides.
“Oh, and I’m family? You don’t even know me.”
