Page 107 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

Familiar in a way that made my chest ache, and loneliness wound through me.

I had to stop it. Stop the spread of emotions, stop feeling like Theo was the only balm for my internal damage.

Forever seems to pass. I just have a few questions for her, but waking her up will make it seem like I care. It’s not like Wilder interrupted my shower. He was just… waiting for me. And I’d like to recreate that anxiety for my dear ex-roommate.

I zoom in on one of the photos I took: Skylar in the window of her house. She didn’t see me, I don’t think. She just seemed too sad not to capture the moment.

Ruby stirs after a while, rolling over and stretching. At least she doesn’t do anything embarrassing, like stick her hand down her pants or pick her nose. Her eyes flutter open, but it takes her a long few moments to discover me.

The room is still dark, after all. Not pitch-black—light filters in around the edges of their shades enough for me to see my way around. I turn my camera on and adjust the settings, then raise the viewfinder to my eye.

She rolls toward me, and her eyes widen.

I press the button, and the flash pops.

I imagine she’s blinded for a moment, so I lower the camera and pull up the photo, zooming in. An open, sleep-hazed gaze. Her hair is wild, sticking up now. A bit of drool in the corner of her mouth.

Not perfect. Not like I used to think.

“What…?” She sits up. “Lucy?”

“In the flesh.”

She draws the blankets up with her, covering her chest. Like I give a shit about if I can see the outline of her nipples through her shirt.

“You…”

“I think the more appropriate term is, ‘I’m sorry, Lucy.’” I take another photo, the flash brilliant white. For a second, even I see stars.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

I take my time examining this photo. Maybe it’s my imagination, but there seems to be a bit of fear in her expression. Some fear is expected—I’ve practically come back from the dead. But still, I figured it was either her or Felicity who let Wilder into my room that night.

What would I have done with a heads-up?

Everything could’ve been different. I might’ve had the chance to call Theo. To ask for his help—or not let the DeSantis family dictate my future. Now, I have a hollow feeling in my bones that won’t go away. The feeling of the rug under my feet being pulled loose, again and again.

It hits me now, sitting in this room with Ruby, that my future was literally yanked out of my grasp.

My choices were to go with Wilder or go to prison. That’s what he presented.

“Tell me about what happened after I went to see Theo? After Sebastian was taken away for his broken whatever.” It’s a blur—that part, anyway. What came after for Theo and me isn’t. It’s one memory that played on repeat in my dreams.

She swings her legs over and reaches for the bottle of water on her nightstand. After a few gulps, she wipes her mouth. “The group of us stayed for a little while, but the game had sort of lost its magic. Hale wasn’t put back in, and obviously Sebastian and Theo didn’t return. So we came back to campus. Miranda and I went to see Sebastian at the hospital after Hale told me he needed surgery.”

I motion for her to speed it up.

“He seemed awful,” she says, twisting the bottle in her grip. “In the hospital bed, hooked up to machines…”

“Wait.” I drop my feet and lean forward. “You didn’t, say, run into Felicity and offer to bring my camera bag back to the room?”

She blinks. “No. Well, Felicity was scrolling through your photos. Just curiosity, you know? She showed us some of your landscapes, and I was surprised how good they were. But then she got kind of quiet.”

She found the photos I took of her. “Then?”

“Well, by then we were getting back to campus, and Felicity said she would meet us at the hospital later. She’s not that close with Seb, so I didn’t really take it to heart.”

“Uh-huh.” I pop the memory card out of my camera and insert one I haven’t looked at in years. I took it out because it was nearly full, and all the images of Theo were too hard to bear. But I’d bet anything Felicity didn’t think to delete the ones I took of her. I scroll to them and flash the screen at Ruby. “Did she show you these?”

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