Chapter 10 North #2
“Shut up,” he hisses, staring at the device, thumbs hovering on the keyboard. “Can you stop staring over her shoulder?”
“Why? Does it unnerve you?”
“Yes. I want to text her without you judging me.”
I sigh vexingly. “Still not as smooth as me, I see. Fine. I’ll go play with the dog, shall I?”
“Her name is Pack,” Blaze tells me when I stand.
My nose curls. “Pack?”
“Juniper went to North Carolina State,” he explains.
“Ah. Well. We all make mistakes,” I joke.
Blaze lets out the first huff of amusement I’ve heard from him in years. It delights me so much that I leave him to talk with her without another peep.
Watching him sit in front of her and type away, and seeing her eyes light up when he responds, stirs something within me. A possible twinge of jealousy, sure. No one’s ever looked at me the way she’s looking at this screen.
I quietly wonder what that’s like.
I make friends with Pack for the next ten minutes, and Juniper seems to be so consumed with her texts that she doesn’t notice her dog playing with a shadow.
“Pack! You ready girl?” I eventually hear Juniper call out.
Even her voice is fucking melodic.
Blaze makes his way down behind her as Pack meets Juniper in the surf. He crosses the space between us to stand at my side, and the two of us watch them together.
“What happened last night? Did you find the sprites?” I ask him.
“Five,” he answers.
“And how did that go?”
A muscle feathers in his jaw, and the fact that he doesn’t look at me is nearly enough to make me dance.
“I still have one left to interrogate,” he says. “The others weren’t so helpful.”
I glance at his pocketed hands. “Let me see your palms.”
“What?”
“Come on. Show them,” I say.
Because I want to see the glitter on his fingers from where he squashed them.
Blaze sighs heavily. “You’re annoying,” he says as he takes his hands from his pockets.
The corners of my lips immediately tug upward. The blood of sprites is pink and iridescent, leaving a stain behind no matter how much you scrub and scrub.
And my brother’s palms are covered.
“You look like you jerked off a unicorn,” I say.
Blaze rolls his eyes and shoves me sideways, making me stumble off balance as I laugh.
“Shut up,” he mutters. “It doesn’t come off.”
“Yes, which is why you know to wear gloves,” I remind him.
Another heavy exhale leaves him as if he remembered the caveat after expiring the first one. “It’s been a long time.”
My laughter wanes as I straighten, pride swelling within me. “My brother. Back to ridding the world of his mother’s minions over a human woman. The world is right-side up once again,” I taunt him.
It’s been forever since I’ve seen him enact any revenge on a creature deserving of it. He’s been so lonely and tormented since his punishment…
Blaze peers my way, and my smile widens.
“What? You can’t fault me for being excited about this. You’re one step closer to your old self. I’ve missed you,” I say.
He stuffs his hands back into his pockets and peers Juniper’s way once more. “I forgot how piercing their screams are,” he says lowly.
I beam. “There’s my beloved brother.”
Blaze scoffs and shakes his head, though there’s a distant pride behind his stern facade that’s unmistakable.
“I don’t ask for much from you, but I am asking for this,” he says. “I need a few more hours.”
I follow his gaze to Juniper. My stomach twists at the laugh-filled expression on her face, and as I watch her, I’m reminded of the stark contrast in her crying eyes.
“This one means more,” I say.
“I think she could. I think there’s something more here. And I think you’ll feel it once you’re with her.”
My teeth clench. I don’t like putting too much faith in the what-if’s.
“Your mark faded this morning,” I tell him.
“Fuck.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Did you—”
“I left mine,” I assure him. “You realize it doesn’t have the same worth as yours.”
“Mine is a pathetic reminder of my last failure,” Blaze mutters. He stretches his fingers wide and looks down at them. I can see the magic swimming beneath his skin, flickering as if it’s lost its momentum.
“Any progress?” I ask.
“It’s erratic,” he answers.
“You’ve forgotten what it means to want it, brother. Remember the way we brought cities down and undermined our mother’s every move. It’s still in you. You lost your spirit, not your life.”
Blaze’s jaw tightens as he regards Juniper again. A darkness settles in his gaze that makes my insides squirm. He’s in there. The brother I knew, he’s still there.
I just have to bring it out of him.
“That was fear in your voice last night,” I say.
Blaze doesn’t speak.
I regard Juniper again, trying to see her as deeply as he does. “If the fear of losing her isn’t enough for you to fight, then what will be?”
“I’ll fix it.”
“You’d better. If you’re serious about this, you’re going to need it. And I need my brother back.”
“Give me today. Give me a start. Let me find out what these sprites have already told her.” He finally drags his gaze to mine, and I almost smile at the fire behind those pupils.
“I’m not losing again,” he says.