Page 72 of Fallen Gods
“Brilliant idea, Rey.”
“Appreciate the sarcasm.”
I know Rowen’s right, but it’s all I have, and as much as I would love to enjoy the delusion that this is normal, that I’m just attending classes, starting my own rumors, and headed toward a sex tape scandal all before streaking through the quad—that’s not the case.
Lives are at stake.
“I’ll be fine. I know how to handle myself.”
“Hope you’re right about that. Because here he comes.”
Aric’s dark eyes meet mine, and without a word, he nods.
I force a smile for Rowen. “That’s my cue.”
I follow Aric out of the building, toward the parking lot just asstorm clouds muscle their way across the sky, thick and heavy. The day dims in an instant, the kind of wrong darkness that feels like a bad omen written across the heavens.
It wasn’t supposed to rain today. Definitely not thunderstorm tonight.
I shiver and keep my eyes locked straight ahead, but my gaze still catches on Aric’s fists—white-knuckled, clutched tight at his sides like he’s one second from putting them through a wall.
Lightning suddenly charges across the clouds, jagged and sharp.
He stops short, spins on me, voice breaking, raw. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? What being near you feels like? You think this is some kind of game?”
I reel back, breath catching as a cool wind whooshes across my cheek. His chest heaves once, twice, and then he drags a hand over his face like he’s trying to shove the words back inside.
“Forget it,” he mutters, voice lower now but no calmer. “I know we have to ride in the same car. But if you could just…stay away from me. Unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’d be great.”
The storm deepens overhead, growling.
By the time we’re settled in his black Defender, he’s gripping the steering wheel so hard, the leather groans. His jaw is locked, eyes fixed forward like he’s holding on by a thread. He keeps blinking, shaking his head, like he’s losing focus.
My pulse spikes.
And for the first time, I wonder if I’m trapped in this car with him—or if he’s trapped in here with me.
I haven’t had a chance to fully look at the map, so I haven’t mathed how far we’re actually going. I assume I have a few hours for a partner breakthrough.
Aric apparently doesn’t trust me to navigate. He takes his phone out of his pocket and pulls up a navigation app, then types an address and waits for it to sync on the car’s console. I try notto let my irritation show.
Playing the long game is going to be the death of me.
“The Ice Caves are old,” Aric starts. His voice is low, clipped, but steady enough to sound like a lecture. “Thousands of years old, some of the oldest glacial formations in the Northwest. People have used them as shelters, burial sites, even meeting grounds. That’s why Dr. Tyrson assigned them. We’re supposed to take notes about the structures themselves, how they’ve lasted this long—”
I cut him off with a sharp laugh. “I, too, have a syllabus, professor. And guess what? I can read. You don’t have to tell me what to do—we’re partners, remember?”
His jaw ticks. “I just don’t trust you. And one of us actually cares about grades. Graduating. Escaping.”
The word hits harder than it should.
I keep my eyes fixed on the storm-tossed road ahead. “What makes you think I don’t want to escape, too?”
Silence fills the car, heavy and suffocating.
Finally he mutters, “You had the chance to run. You didn’t.”
I let out a shaky breath, trying for a heart-to-heart I’m not sure I have the courage for. “You’re right. I had a chance once. A moment of hope. A cruel, fleeting moment in my life where what my father planned for me seemed almost like an escape. I dared to hope…” My throat tightens. “I saw it like a crack in the void, a slit of light I thought I could slip through.”
