ravaged hearts

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR,

RAVAGED HEARTS | CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  NOW,

  "IO. SHOULDN'T YOU be with everyone else?"

  The voice sounded from the door behind Io, but she didn't need to turn to know who it was. For some strange, unknown reason, Louis Sanchez had come to seek her out.

  Actually, screw that. It wasn't an unknown reason. She knew perfectly why Louis was here. To talk, as he'd been trying to since forever.

  Any more and she might actually start to forgive him. So she raised one brow. "Am I needed?"

  "Well, no, but you should be there. You're practically leading the mission."

  She offered a little shrug. "Let everyone else share the glory and joy of leadership for a little while. I'm generous that way."

  Louis sighed, taking a step in. "Is something wrong?"

  "No," she replied curtly, "everything is just as it is.

  Louis tilted his head. "We haven't found the prince's whereabouts yet."

  "I do believe that is the point? To seek him out within the next twenty-four hours? That is the point of the upcoming operation, yes?"

  Louis hummed. "I suppose. But I was hoping we'd have sniffed him out yesterday already."

  "We didn't find him, but we did find the Falcons. I'd say that's a fair trade. We'll probably have to deal with them on the way anyway, not easy going around retrieving kidnapped children while a band of bloody Falcons are on our tail."

  "A pleasant and simple way of putting it," Louis nodded, though the sarcasm was clear. "If you're worried—"

  "—I'm not worried."

  "Good."

  Io's eyes flickered shut. Silence filled the room, not a word passing between them. She sat with her back to him, not wanting to turn. He said, "Can we talk about what happened all those years ago? The night you got stabbed? Because all these years later and I still don't think I have a full picture of what went on. You don't need to forgive me or become my friend. I just want us to be able to... continue. Live on without... all these unspoken words and regrets and guilt between us."

  "All these unspoken words and regrets and guilt is on your side, not mine." She stood. "It's simple. We were on a mission. Together. You got distracted. I got mad that you got distracted. I got distracted. Turns out your distraction was a ploy by the enemy the entire time, in the process of dealing with them I got stabbed. As simple as that."

  "There was more than that."

  "No there wasn't."

  "Yes there were," he insisted. A pause, then he said, "You never told me you liked me then."

  She said, her voice suddenly quieter, "There was no point."

  "You could have told me. You don't know how I would have responded."

  "Yes I did," she responded pointly. "It's behind us now anyways. That was so long ago, we were both just children."

  "Io..." he looked pained. "Stop avoiding the topic. Stop evading my every attempt to bring the past up."

  "The past," Io said slowly, making sure her every word was dragged out, "stays in the past. There is no reason to dig it back up. None. We've grown so much already."

  "There is a reason to dig it up when so much of it remains unsolved," Louis insisted. "And our past is still very much unfinished, Io. There's so much we never—"