The Edge (Book 5 of The Claiming Series)

Chapter Five

We sit in the grass together and watch the rushing of the river over rocks and stones. The sound is tempting to fall asleep to right here on the bank, but Eli grasps my hand, and I can tell he's anxious. His uneven nails dig into my palm.

I look up at him. His eyes are focused on the cattails dancing against a low breeze at the water's edge. I pull my hand out of his grasp and set my hand on top of his instead. This snaps him out of his mind, and he glances down at me. For a moment, he doesn't seem to recognize me, but then his gaze softens.

I clear my throat. "How much do you know? From our end, I mean."

"Bits and pieces. I know that the Tower is gone."

"Yeah, that wasn't a fun day."

His voice hardens. "And that your life has been endangered since the minute I left."

"Well. Yeah."

Eli pulls his hand away and sets his elbows on his knees, his face falling into his hands. "That you're pregnant, and there's gossip going around everywhere that it's not mine."

A piece of hair falls into my eyes and I blow it away. "I've gotten used to that. Most people believe that it's yours. I've gotten a pretty strong following after the Tower fell. I realized how much I had to change things before they got worse. But people still like to talk and start scandals when they're bored."

"You know you have the power to shut that down, right?"

I shrug. "But what message would that send the people? The more I try to dictate their lives, the more they rebel. So, I've backed off what they're used to."

Eli scowls. "Are you saying I was a dictator?"

I laugh. "No, no. I'm saying that we can't let our status put fear into the people. I let them say whatever they want, but I won't let them kill me. I also won't let them suffer, either."

Eli sighs. "You're so different now."

I shift in the grass and move my legs off to the side, leaning toward Eli. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No."

"You're different, too," I say, my throat tightening.

"I know."

"Do you want to talk to someone about everything that happened out there? I mean, you can talk to me, but I didn't know if you'd want to talk to... a professional or something."

"I'll be okay. I'd rather be filled in on everything I've missed here."

I don't believe him, but he obviously doesn't want to talk about it any longer. His jaw is set, gritting his teeth together in his mouth so hard that his cheek muscles tense up. I look down at the blades of grass between us. "Okay. Well, where do I even start?"

***

After the first week without Eli, I already missed him terribly. I hated every meeting, sitting alone at the head table of the meeting hall, with only Angel's brief words of encouragement on repeat in my mind: Stand tall, nod, agree.

I can't really believe that this is exactly what Eli did all the time. He was the opposite of agreeable when it came to his court members during most meetings. He had his own vision, his own plan, and the court had theirs. Sometimes he'd disagree out of spite. I don't see him just going along with everything like Angel told me to do at first.