(Please read Theron 1 before moving on to this book)
A stranger washes ashore on a deserted beach.
With no memory of who or what he is, the only clue he has to his identity--the only thing he recalls from his past life--is a single, solitary name:...
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I feel his presence enter the kitchen before he speaks.
I know what he wants as I have been dreading it for some time now.
"We need to talk, Lina," Kai says softly. He leans against the entryway, arms folded over his chest. It's hard to believe how different he is now...
How different we all were.
I act oblivious, "About what?" Turning back to the stove, I continue cooking dinner because it's a job in and of itself feeding three male Ancients, three humans and myself. Needless to say, our grocery bill is astronomical.
"You know what."
"Do I?" Of course I know, I just don't want to discuss her.
My thoughts stray to the window and beyond as the snow blankets my once luscious green earth. It falls in large, fluffy white flakes and clings thickly to the evergreens, dampening my mood further... not that much really makes me happy these days.
My displeasure of Snow is still the same, so I guess not everything changes.
Something deep within my empty heart whispers, "something is coming" and I am concerned that that something might just start with a "w" and end with an "itch."
"You understand why I offered the punishment I did for Evie, right?" His question hits me like a fist to the face and instantly months of worry and anxiety and weeks of anger and frustration become too much. Like water in a cup, it's overflowing and I know my eyes are swirling with the same beautiful colors I used to be so enraptured by... the same colors I crave so desperately to see from the one Ancient I never would again.
Fury engulfs me.
I fling the pan of fried potatoes off the stove and across the room. Whirling around, my beastly eyes bore into him, "No, Kai, I do not understand! Actual dogs get treated better than she treated you! Did you forget how she chained you to the floor? Cursed you to your werewolf form? Prevented you from mindlinking? How she starved you? Tortured you with her magic? Has her taunting laughter slipped your mind? You made a mistake yesterday. A mistake that will affect us all so no, I do not understand why you did what you did and honestly, I don't even care anymore. It's over and done with." I aggressively point the potatoe coated spatula at him, not entirely certain I won't chuck it at his stupid head, "But I sure as fuck bet you're going to explain it to me anyway, aren't you?"
DeLoren appears behind Kai at this point, obviously assessing the situation and if he needs to intervene but I pay him no mind.
He is on my shit list too.
Kai eyes me, his face no longer carefree lately and it shows in his hardened stare. He looks older somehow, as if time has finally caught up with his youthful appearance. He runs a hand across his mouth before saying, "Not everything can be avenged, Lina. Those that can, do not always need to end violently. You're hurting and I get it, I do, but you're letting it consume you and--"
