Page 47 of Fire Touched

I let out a harsh laugh. ‘I don’t think that’s too hard at this point.’ I take a few steps toward her and extend my arm. ‘Well, then, why don’t I stop being stupid and go and find her. In the meantime, may I?’ I offer my arm.

Ivy hesitates, then snakes her arm through mine.

I’m pretty sure this young woman doesn’t want me interrogating her, though there are plenty of questions I want to ask. Instead, I say, ‘Ivy, do you have any more pearls of wisdom for me?’ We reach the hall, and I stare up at the double doors with her artwork carved onto them.

Ivy’s head tilts back, making her pale curtain of hair shimmer. ‘Ask her to dance.’

‘I think it’s just a dinner.’

She doesn’t look at me. ‘There will be an opportunity. Ask her to dance,’ she repeats.

‘I will,’ I decide. ‘By the way.’ My hand hovers near the artwork. ‘I wanted to compliment you on this. It’s incredible.’

The young woman meets my gaze. In this light, I can see her eyes are silver. The girl is void of colour, but the silver of her eyes is both soft and striking. ‘Thank you.’ She slips out of my grasp, leaving me to stare into the great hall as she goes to take her place beside her father.

Ask her to dance. Well, it’s better than anything I’ve come up with.

As I cross the threshold of the hall, another part of Verron and Ivy’s conversation comes back to me, about how this hall hasn’t been used in two decades. Now, there are about fifty people milling about. Some hovering at the long tables, nibbling on food, most chatting to unfamiliar faces.

I search the room, reluctant. My gaze finally snags on my mate. Katherine is wearing a long, black dress that makes my heart skip a beat. In a flash, I’m transported back to the day she got her wolf, back in Cinder. She wore a dress that day, too. The day Carter took her away from me. I hadn’t realised then, what I felt for her, what it meant. I let him take her.

I cross the room without realising, reaching for Katherine. The others, our friends, melt away. ‘I should have talked to you on that beach, rather than run past you. I should have stopped to talk to you every day. Every moment I could.’

Katherine turns to look up into my eyes, a bewildered expression on her face.

I hold my hand out for hers, needing to touch her.

Her gaze flicks over my shoulder. I wonder if she’s sharing a glare with Moira. If she’s looking at Carter. After a moment, an eternity, she sets her hand in mine, and I exhale. ‘I should have been there to escort you over. I’m sorry.’ Katherine purses her lips. ‘May I sit with you for the feast?’

Katherine tosses her head back—her hair artfully done up—and gives me a cool look. ‘If you like.’ Her hand slides out of mine, a stab to the chest.

I have a lot of work to do to make this better.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Katie

Killian lowers himself into the chair beside me. We’ve been seated at the same table as the heads of Earth Pack. Verron, a pale young woman beside him, Prescott and Elijah. It occurs to me that many of the families here are incomplete. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it earlier. Perhaps because mine has always been incomplete, too. Instead of asking potentially intrusive questions, I smile and lean forward. ‘Surely, there are many more in Terran who will join us?’

Prescott offers a sad smile. ‘It is unlikely, I’m afraid. This is a better turn-out than I’d expected.’ His gaze takes in the vast hall, and the comparatively small number of people sitting nervously at the tables nearby. After a long moment, the Second meets my gaze. ‘Terran has not always been a peaceful place, and there are those who still feel… restless among strangers.’

I glance down the table at my friends. ‘They don’t like us here?’ It stings, thinking the wider populace of this place might not like our presence.

Prescott’s eyes shutter. ‘It’s not you, exactly.’ He lowers his voice. ‘Eighteen years ago, Terran attempted to forge a peace.’ His face hardens. ‘We were betrayed.’ His hand rests on Elijah’s back. ‘We lost a good many people.’

‘My mother among them,’ Elijah says softly.

Prescott squeezes his son’s shoulder. ‘Terran’s people are kind, but still wary.’

I stare around the hall. ‘It happened in here, didn’t it? That why people haven’t come.’

Elijah pales, nodding. I reach out and grasp his arm. ‘Sorry. I didn’t know.’

Killian’s leaning forward, eagerly listening. He swallows thickly. ‘I’m—that explains a lot.’ His gaze finds Verron. He’s been so brash, so reluctant to form an alliance, let alone a friendship with us, with outsiders. I can hardly blame him. ‘Who did you attempt to forge the alliance with? Who betrayed you?’

Prescott opens his mouth, but a loud clinking interrupts him as Verron gets to his feet, clattering a fork against his glass goblet for silence. We all turn our attention to the alpha. He sets down the fork and the glass. For a long moment, he stands there, seeming to struggle with words. He takes a heavy breath. ‘I know you all hate to be here.’ He gestures to the vast, open space. ‘I do, too. Eighteen years ago, we took a leap of faith, only to be met with slaughter.’ A ripple of hushed whispers spills through the crowd. ‘I remember it like it was yesterday.’ He takes a moment, nods, as though forging ahead. ‘I know many of our guests are unfamiliar with my daughter. I want to introduce you to Ivy.’ He lays an affectionate hand on the pale young woman’s head. ‘She—she is my everything.’

I take her in. It’s hard to discern her age. I’ve never seen someone so void of colour. I wonder who her mother is. Or was. Was she lost that day too?

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