Chapter Fifteen #3
And yet, she found that she was willing to try if it meant ensuring that her loved ones and the remainder of her people could live and die without fear. To clear her conscience, of course. In the end, all of this would benefit her the most.
Solana was dressing for a night of hunting when there was a soft knock on her door. Cora stood on the other side with a sly grin spread across her face. “I heard something very interesting,” she said, casually pushing past Solana into the room.
“Those boys are worse than the kitchen gossips.” She slammed the door and leaned against it to finish tying up her boots. “Nothing happened.”
“Nothing?” Cora asked. “No exchanging of fluids? No tumbling in bed?”
“Well, yes, actually, those things did happen, but not in the way you’re thinking.
” Solana sighed and proceeded to tell Cora about King Killian in the training room, how she had almost died on Reyes’s bed, and how his gift had saved her.
Again. “Now I owe him a life debt, which is very unfortunate.”
But Cora didn’t laugh. Her eyes were distant, and one hand was curled and pressed over her heart. “Things have changed,” she said vaguely. “Everything feels … different.”
Solana narrowed her eyes. “Good different or bad different?”
With a shake, Cora shifted back to her bright and effervescent self.
“I’m not sure, but I guess we’ll find out.
Come have dinner with us.” Solana opened her mouth to argue, but Cora stopped her with a hand pressed against her lips.
“Don’t say no. You’re a part of this team, for however long, and it’s time you start acting like it.
It’s dinner, not an exchanging of blood. ”
Sami had said something to the same effect last time they hunted together. Dinner with my family. It had been meant to appease her, but the idea of a family, of belonging and the expectations that came with it …
But she couldn’t say no to Cora, who had been beyond welcoming since the very first day.
“Fine,” she agreed, and Cora twisted their arms together and led the way to the kitchens where Reyes, Nikolas, and Oskar sat on one side of a small table, and Suri and two empty chairs on the other.
“Ah, she graces us with her presence.” Suri directed the words at Solana, her hand possessively on the back of Cora’s chair.
Solana placed a hand to her chest. “You seem very concerned with my presence.”
“Only because I prefer the lack of it—”
“Enough, Suri.” Solana bristled at the way Reyes stepped in but didn’t spare her a look. “We’re going to be working more closely together,” he continued, “so if there are any grievances, now is the time to air them.”
Oskar bumped into Nikolas’s shoulder, a smile wide on his face as he signed, Is that what they were doing last night? Working closely. He finished his sentence with air quotes and waggled his brow for extra measure.
Suri’s head whipped to Reyes. “So much for, she’s of no consequence to us.”
The room fell awkwardly silent. Whoops, Oskar added.
The words stung, but Solana kept a confident smile on her face as she plucked a slice of fried yuca from the table. She tore a chunk off before leaning back in her chair and brandishing the rest toward the group. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. I got hurt in training and he healed me. That’s all.”
“For a fearsome demon slayer, you end up hurt a lot,” Suri responded.
Solana’s patience snapped. “For a highly paid Master, you seem to do…” She waved her yuca in the air. “… nothing but complain.”
“See, this is my problem with you—”
“I thought you didn’t give a shit about me,” Solana interrupted.
“—coming here and judging us when you know nothing about us, nor have you tried to get to know anyone.” Suri jabbed her Masters badge.
“You see this badge and you assume that it was handed to us because of privilege. Cora’s family spent every dime they had to send her to the Academy,” she said, pointing at Cora.
Then at Oskar. “He had to overcome an entire system that was not created to benefit someone without hearing and, on top of that, he forged a path for those to follow.” She pointed at Nikolas.
“He’s here out of privilege, but he’s loyal and decent.
That’s more than you can say. And Reyes—”
“That’s enough, Suri,” Reyes repeated, the words soft but cutting.
The room fell into silence except for the ragged breathing of Suri and Solana, both standing over the table with fists pressed into the wood.
“We’ve given her no reason to trust us. But that ends now.
” He looked at each of them in turn, a leader among his team. His friends.
Chest tight, Solana tore her eyes from Suri and sat back in her chair. This wasn’t her fight to have. Soon enough, she would be gone, and they would continue as they were before her.
“Okay,” Cora said loudly with a clap of her hands. “Grievances aired. Now, let’s eat.”
And that was that. Nikolas made a comment about the food, Cora leaned into Suri’s side, Oskar and Reyes began signing furiously over Nikolas’s protestations.
Solana sat back, a part of the group but entirely outside of it, happy to watch from a distance and push down the creeping loneliness that tried to convince her she wanted more than this.