Page 58 of Song of Tenebrae

He stills and looks at me, “I’ll figure it out. It’s still early if you want to sleep a bit more. I’ll bring you something to eat in a bit.” He doesn’t stop to wait for a reply as he leaves the room in a hurry.

I slip my robe on and decide I need fucking answers too. We're a unit now, right? Married in the eyes of him and his bandmates, so I think I deserve some explanations for the shit I saw last night. I head out of the room and stand in the hallway, just listening to the sounds around me. If I were Raiden, where would I go first?

Torrent.

They’re blood brothers and I think they have the most complicated relationship. You can see the love between them, the respect, but I think Torrent is having the most trouble with mine and Raiden’s situation. I start for the corridor I saw Torrent coming from last night and stop suddenly when I envision how Hail has been the last few days.

He’s cold, distant, and clearly not acting normal. I see the way Raiden watches him and I can’t help but feel like he’s a ticking time bomb. I remember which room is his from last year and turn to go that way, when I hear Squall’s voice behind a closed door.

“Did they bring them here?” He asks and I can hear a muffled response but I can’t tell what’s being said or who it is. “I need to talk to him, he’s expected to step up as leader and if not, he will have to be replaced.”

Replaced? What the fuck is Squall talking about?

“It’s rude to eavesdrop.” Torrent sounds from behind me and I startle, “anything juicy?”

“I can’t really hear clearly,” I shrug and back away from the door. “Although he’s saying something about replacing Raiden.”

Torrent’s eyes widen and flash with anger. He strides forward and I know he’s about to bust through the door.

“No!” I whisper harshly and push him back. “We don’t know everything yet. We should wait and see what else happens.”

“Like what, little sister? Wait until he betrays my brother?”

“Do you really think he would do that? You guys have been together since childhood, it makes no sense.”

“Where is my brother?” He starts striding for Raiden’s - our - room.

“He went to look for one of you.” I chase after him, “I told him what I saw last night.”

He stops abruptly and turns on me, “what did you see last night?”

“Well, I saw all of you wandering the house, but he didn’t care too much about that. Then I told him I saw people out back.”

“‘People’? ‘Out back’?” His brow is raised but his eyes are skeptical.

“One running through the maze and another along the trees to the side.”

“So you’re saying Squall and Hail were running through the back last night?” His brows crash together.

“Or you and someone else. All three of you were up and even though you were the most normal out of the three, it was all still weird.”

“What do you mean ‘most normal'? What were Hail and Squall acting like?” His hand grabs my forearm and his fingers dig in.

“Let go.” I try to yank free of his hold.

“Not until you explain to me what you saw.” He grounds out and his spittle hits my cheek.

“Torrent,” Hail’s angry voice comes from somewhere behind me, “our leader wouldn’t like you handling his woman that way.”

At the sound of Hail’s voice, Torrent rounds on him, and seemingly forgets all about me. I rub my arm and watch their interaction with confusion.

“Why were you running through the maze last night?” Torrent asks Hail whose eyebrows shoot up.

“Maze? Why would you think I was in the maze?”

“Squall hates that thing, he’s been asking to have it ripped down since we bought the place, and Tempest saw two people running through the back last night.” Torrent points back at me.

“She did? From where?”

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