Chapter 18 #2
I turned to check the microwave. Thirty seconds left. Fuck.
I wondered when he’d ask me what he really wanted to ask.
“Did you ever see her at school? My– the Phantom?”
I chewed my thumb for a second, then stopped as the microwave beeped. I didn’t turn to collect my pizza rolls, eyeing him suspiciously instead.
He could’ve just gone into my mind. Why hadn’t he? He’d never cared before.
Oh. I was an idiot.
I’d just whined to Gina that Avery didn’t trust me anymore, so now he was asking me open-ended questions to prove to me he’d trust my answers.
Wow. Gina had actually done something useful for once.
“I knew of her,” I answered finally, thinking of my response carefully. “She keeps to herself and her Link.”
Avery’s lips twisted, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat as I thought he’d seen through me. But I hadn’t lied. I hadn’t known who Skye was to Avery, and she did keep to herself and Red. And that blonde and the goth chick.
“She has two friends,” I said quickly. “Blonde chick and a goth chick.”
Avery was still angry over his new daughter’s love interests.
“Do you know Brandt’s son?”
I shrugged, because I didn’t actually know him. Avery narrowed his eyes at me, but then remembered he was trying to trust me.
“I’d thought Brandt’s son was one of the Prince’s Links…” Avery said. “I even threatened the Prince about it.”
I finally freed my food with a raised brow. I hadn’t known Avery was stupid enough to threaten a prince.
The first pizza roll sucked, half cold and half warm. The second roll really sucked. I winced as I scalded my tongue.
“I know we talked about it with the old man, but…are they connected?” Avery asked quietly. “Brandt and…”
I whimpered internally at my burnt tongue.
I nodded. “I think so.”
My stomach soured. Between the dangerous pizza rolls and my imagination conjuring up images of Red fucking Skye, I was starting to think I never wanted to eat again.
God. I mean…what was she into? Was she one of those girls that liked when guys were kinda mean? Or…was she kinda mean? Did she like being put in her place or was she the one doing the putting?
I shivered, entirely unsure of which one sounded more enticing.
Avery scowled out the window, still angry about Skye’s exploits. “They must be. She clung to him in the ballroom.” He shook his head. “I was told a redhead man with her possessed an affinity for electricity.”
“I have no idea about that,” I said truthfully. “I thought Lucille always said he was a single-affinity loser.”
“She did, but I don’t trust her,” Avery mumbled. “She has secret motives. I can’t believe her son is connected to the Phantom and she didn’t know.”
I shrugged, taking another bite and burning my tongue again.
“Doesn’t matter,” Avery muttered. “She’ll survive.”
I froze.
“Survive what?” I choked out.
“Being separated,” he replied, finally taking a look at my plate of sad food with a look of disgust. “What is that? Where’s Carrie?”
“Good question,” I ground out. I took another bite of scalding hot pizza roll and barely held in my tears as Avery watched me. “You have a new plan?”
He cleared his throat, then nodded. “The Seer tells me the time is coming for us to meet again. Me and the Phantom. She says persuasion will be important for our impending conversation.”
I blinked several times. “Is that…is that exactly what she said?”
Avery sneered at me, and my expression dropped.
Fuck. Why was he so hot and cold?
Like my pizza rolls.
They were also hot and cold.
Ugh.
“Whatever you say,” I said, taking another nasty bite of freezing pizza roll. I spoke around my chewing, trying not to spit it out. I was committed to this snack. “Doesn’t separating a Key from their Links hurt them?”
“It does, but she’ll live. That’s all that matters.” Avery ran his hands through his hair. “Gina told me you were…feeling inadequate.”
My stomach dropped.
Oh…my God.
I only stared at him, completely speechless.
“So, I want to tell you a story,” Avery rushed out. “I trust you, River, I just…things are hard right now, okay?”
“Okay,” I said flatly, swiping my uneaten snack into the trash, my commitment to the snack dead.
I felt the tiniest tickle at the back of my throat, then remembered a fun fact about how the human body could develop an allergy to anything at any time. Maybe I was suddenly allergic to pizza rolls.
“I want to tell you a story,” Avery repeated as I hoped I was going into anaphylaxis so I could die. “Is that alright?”
The way these people asked me for my thoughts and opinions like I had a choice needed to be studied.
I gestured with my hand for him to go on as I looked down sadly at my trashed pizza rolls.
“I was friends with a girl when I was young,” Avery said, and the tickle went away. Ugh. “We were together all the time. It changed at some point, from friendship to more. Probably when we were teens.”
I nodded, my stomach beginning to churn as I realized he was actually opening up to me. My stomach churned even harder when I realized the girl in this story wasn’t Gina.
“We wanted to start a life together, but we had nothing. So I volunteered for the military,” he went on. “I knew I’d never get past the testing, so I just went straight in. I never expected to be deployed immediately.”
I continued nodding, but now I was interested. Avery had never told me much about his childhood, or his time in the military. Maybe I should’ve whined to Gina sooner.
“I slipped past the Sensor, then I faked my affinities well enough. They had me listed as a full elemental. I did pretty well with that.”
“Have you ever done your Link-testing?” I asked when he didn’t continue. “They keep nagging me at the school.”
“Link-testing is a joke,” Avery scoffed. “It doesn’t mean anything, being in a Chain. A Key will rip your heart out like it’s nothing.”
I furrowed my brow. I knew Avery had weird sentiments around Chain status and breeding, but…I pursed my lips as I realized this was related to the friend he’d just told me about.
I swallowed thickly. “So you’re uh…speaking from experience?”
Avery scrubbed a hand down his face. “That friend of mine. I didn’t see her for years. As soon as my time was up in the military, I quit, and I went to find her.”
“And you found her?” I hedged.
Avery nodded, a small smile actually on his face. “We spent three beautiful days and nights together, and then…she tells me she has a family. She joined a Chain, another Key and his Link. I thought…no way. This is it. We have a family. Two Keys together with their Links? We were so excited. But…”
“They didn’t like you,” I said, connecting the dots.
My chest ached as I remembered how many times Aiden Brandt had glared at me when he caught me checking out Skye.
Avery huffed an unamused laugh. “No, they didn’t. The other Key was threatened by me. He was obsessed with her. I understood, because I was, too, but…” He shook hid head. “He made her choose.”
“And she didn’t choose her own Link?” I said in disbelief.
“They had a child together,” Avery whispered with a shake of the head.
“Who cares?” I blurted.
“You’re young, River. Things get tricky when children are involved.”