Page 14 of Run Like the Devil

A soft laugh escaped me at how sweetly naïve she seemed. “No. I’m not from the cycle before Hubis. I told you there had been countless iterations where someone decided they knew best, where they reshaped everything according to their whims. Some made it longer than others, but they came down to the same fate. The only thing that’s constant is change.”

She ran her tongue along her bottom lip, the action leaving a shine there. “How many worlds have you seen, then?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I stopped counting by the time it hit triple digits. It didn’t seem worthwhile to keep track any longer. Some I participated in, some I just watched. The reason I’ve seen so much of the Forgotten Caves is because I lived through most of it. I doubt there is a remnant that exists who has survived more than I have.” The words stuck in my throat, the truth I rarely acknowledged. “None alive even know of my world. I am completely alone and have been for longer than any other being has even existed.” Even saying that out loud hurt.

I’d spent so long hiding this fact, so long running from it, that to admit it so clearly felt like tearing away my flesh and exposing raw nerves to the air.

I expected Loch to tell me off, to rush past me and out of this glimpse of the real me, of the place I came from. I wouldn’t stop her, nor would I blame her for it. It was, by all accounts, the smart choice.

I kept my gaze down, trying to free her to do so, giving her the chance to escape.

She rose to her feet, tiny rocks grinding beneath the soles of her shoes. Of course she’ll run. Who wouldn’t?

I closed my eyes, wanting to block it out, not wanting to have to watch it at least. If I watched, could I let her go?

Except, a weight settled into my lap, causing my eyes to snap open. Loch set her palms on my cheeks, staring into my eyes with a determination that shows just what a threat she could be.

“You’re not alone,” she whispered, then rested her forehead against mine. “I won’t let you be alone, not again.”

And just like that, for the first time since I’d lost everything, I felt like I wasn’t alone. A future with Loch almost seemed worth the time it had taken to get here, as if all the pain and suffering along the way had been worth it.

If it took waiting an eternity to get here…well, she was more than worth it.

Chapter Four

Loch

Walking toward the meeting room felt like I’d gone back to high school and was making my way to the vice-principal’s office.

Never the principal. Good kids went there for praise, and that sure as fuck hadn’t been me. Instead, I got the dreaded call to the vice-principal, who dealt with the screw-ups like myself, the lost causes where, after a while, he’d stopped even scolding me.

He’d just hand me a suspension notice, finding me not even worth the effort of trying to reform.

I really wish Hubis would think the same.

Somehow, I doubted I was getting off with a few days at home for this stunt.

I could almost hear the other Lords in my head.

“You will be fine, just hold your temper.”

“Chin up and show ’em why they shouldn’t fuck with you.”

“Did you know dolphins use pufferfish toxin to get high?”

It was easy to guess who would have said what…

Except I couldn’t actually hear them since I was by myself. No matter how much better I’d have felt if we had arrived together, I’d known I couldn’t do that.

I needed to stand on my own. I’d gained power equal to the other Lords, so I needed to behave that way. Hale and Tyrus didn’t go to meetings together like girls going to the bathroom.

Yazmor would have arrived together, but he did as he pleased no matter what.

Not to mention that we didn’t need Hubis to get suspicious, and arriving like some little gang would let him in on the fact that we were getting along better than he was used to.

The path to the meeting room had never felt quite so long, and I swallowed down my anxiety over it. Hubis wouldn’t let me off too easily. He wouldn’t show up and say, “oh well, not a big deal!”

Kylie seemed sure he wouldn’t kill me, but who the fuck knew? We were talking about someone who had destroyed his entire world, everything he knew. Why would he give a fuck about taking out some green-haired annoyance?

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