Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Thea
That night, I lie in the bed, only to hear someone stop by my door.
Izzy hesitates, and I manage to catch a glimpse of her in the doorway, limned by light--as she should be, the little angel.
She’s got a bottle of painkillers in one hand, so she must have come to offer one to me.
Then I close my eyes the rest of the way before her eyes adjust to the darkness.
I bet she feels guilty that they didn’t heal me. She’s so easy.
She moves on, and someone down the hall asks, “How she’s doing?”
“She’s asleep.”
“Good. Team meeting time.” The guy has a deep, sexy voice. I wonder which one of them it was. It was kind of a blur when I met all my future brothers-in-law, since I was trying to kill them.
“So the old plan is off?” she asks.
He lets out a laugh. “Yeah… Are you going to keep collecting bad guys? Maybe we can ‘rescue’ them all.”
Bad guys? Rude.
I manage to get out of bed. Training usually continues once we can get out of bed, no matter how wounded we are.
I’ve always been jealous of how Oliver heals himself, although I guess he needs to, since he enrages Viggo.
I don’t think anyone else has ever gotten it worse.
And if Viggo ever finds out where he ran to, I know he won’t hesitate to trap Oliver in the Taka cage forever.
I sneak down the hall. The five of them all sound so happy together, and it makes me feel a strange pang. They’re losers, I know that. Izzy is so naive and sweet and stupid it’s unreal. I can’t believe we’re related. She ate up that memory of when we were kids.
The truth is, I cried plenty of times after that flight, missing my mom and my twin.
But Viggo has turned me into someone different, someone sharp and unbreakable, and I like this version of Thea a hell of a lot more. And Ran inside me makes me feel strong and alive.
No, I’d never want to be anyone else. Ran and Aegin belong together, and I'm lucky I get to be the vessel of the goddess.
I creep to the stairs, past the old painting that hangs in the hallway.
I can hear them gathering below in the big living room.
Mr. Time, that old jackass, explains to them that they need to steal the box from our castle.
So they want to trap us the same way we wanted to trap them.
Funny that we’re supposed to be the bad guys, even though we both have the same plans.
“So what do you think of your granddaughter anyway?” Van asks Mr. Time suddenly.
I freeze. Wait. That’s my mother’s father?
“I think she’s been through a lot,” he says candidly, “and some people are undamaged by the darkness they walk through, and some…rot.”
Rot. Rage coils in my chest, tightening my lungs. My fingers flex with my magic. I hope that old bastard doesn’t plan to sail the open sea anytime soon, for his sake.
“You think she’s rotten?” Izzy asks softly.
“I think we can’t trust her,” Mr. Time says. “But I hope you’re right in your assessment of her, Izzy.”
He doesn’t sound hopeful.
“I didn’t tell you what my assessment was,” she says lightly.
“But we all know you,” he says.
Jealousy washes over me. Not only is she more powerful than I am, everyone thinks she’s so lovely and perfect.
I wonder if there’s a way to take that away from her.
I hear someone behind me, and when I turn, I come face-to-face with Oliver. He tries to duck into his room, but I caught a glimpse of him. I cover the distance between where I stood and the door that just swung closed in a few quick strides.
“Oliver, let me in,” I whisper. “You and I need to have a conversation.”
No wonder they joked about Izzy collecting bad guys.
Reluctantly, he swings the door open again. The look on his face is guarded, with an edge of terror. Good. He should be afraid.
“What are you doing here?” I demand.
He shrugs, his face tight. “Look at them, Thea. They’re good. They’re happy. We could be like them.”
I shake my head, pushing past him. “There’s no such thing as good, Oliver.
You’re turning into an even bigger idiot than you ever were before.
” I close the door behind me. “You know when this ends, it’s going to be just us and Viggo standing.
But don’t worry, Oliver; I know just how to smooth this over.
How to make sure Viggo doesn’t force us to kill you. ..for real this time.”
His lips tighten. “What’s the plan?” he asks reluctantly.
“That’s my little survivor,” I croon. “You always find your way back to life don’t you, Oliver?”