her in full force, when she was close enough to see how a face so carved from stone could carry so much. Confusion, sorrow, curiosity all in one. Stone could not do that.
She almost flinched back when he raised his fist again to knock. He waited a beat, and another, before unfurling his fingers back over the door. A frustrated sigh.
What are you waiting for?
Across the plane of the door, their eyes met—the world falling away, becoming all color and the racing beat of her heart. Until a flicker of movement forced him to glance over his shoulder.
The door to his room had swung wide open to the darkness of his suite.
The sight jolted him, and he stepped back swiftly. As if her door were on fire, like he never should’ve been near it in the first place.
Don’t leave.
An ache bloomed inside her as he turned away and disappeared into his room.
Kallia stood there, even as the entire wall of her suite returned. Solid and dark.
Surprisingly, Jack hadn’t joined her. He’d barely moved from where she’d left him. “Be careful with that one,” he said. “He’s not as powerful and mighty as you think.”
Kallia gave a harsh laugh, shaky at the ends. “You’re kidding. In case you didn’t see earlier, he performed magic I’ve never seen before. Magic to protect me.”
Jack’s brow rose high. “Don’t be impressed so easily.”
“Why are you so threatened by him?”
With a have-it-your-way shrug, he swished the drink in his glass. “You’ll soon see, if he even makes it past the next round.”
The threat pricked at her. His certainty promised disaster, and she felt even more helpless over it here than she had in the House.
“What’s it going to take for you to stop?” she asked through gritted teeth, walking toward the hearth. “I can’t go back. I can’t even leave.”
It was like the city had turned on her, becoming the place Jack had warned her about all along. None of them could leave, which only meant more people would get hurt. More accidents, more nights like this—and she could only watch, wait until the puppeteer tired of his game. “What do you want?”
“It’s not about what I want,” he said. “It never has been.”
Her temper rose. She whirled around to demand an answer, only to find his glass abandoned on the small table. The couch empty, the room undisturbed.
No sign of Jack, anywhere at all.
The sight of him gone angered her more than anything. He didn’t get to be the storm who blew through whenever he wanted, upending everything in his path. Hadn’t he done enough?
A splitting pressure cracked in her chest. Her nostrils flared.
Hadn’t he done enough?
Before she knew it, she was moving across the room to his abandoned glass, the rim still wet. Breath shuddering, she threw it as hard as she could. It shattered against the wall, the remnants of liquor dripping down like blood.
Tears seared her vision, hot and unwelcome.
Stop it.
She dragged them away with the backs of her hand.
Stop.
But one tear became more. And soon they streaked down her face without end as that rawness she’d shoved inside broke open. Finally.
The scars of the House splintered back at full force. The ghosts and illusions, the memories she’d remembered. The ones stolen. And Jack, the worst lie of all, who made sure she’d been all out of choices. Who’d given her everything, as much as he’d taken away.
Again, and again.
Even now. Even here.
Kallia sank to her knees, crossing her arms tightly about her. The pain so great, so sudden. She’d held it off thinking she could stop it. That if she buried it far enough, it would never be felt. It would never stop her if it couldn’t take her.
And so she’d left the House. Gone to Glorian. Risen in the competition. After all, she was more powerful than weakness, harder than hurt. She had to be.
“Kallia?”
She jerked up at the door’s slam, her vision swimming as a figure rushed to her in a blur. Aaros. His face cleared right before hers, and she’d never seen him looking more alarmed. “Zarose, Kallia, why are you out of bed? What happened?”
More tears leaked out, and this time, she let them fall. “I…” She filed through every excuse, the habit second-nature. “Everything hurt too much, I just needed some air.”
“So you got it by smashing a glass against the wall?” He glanced at the broken remnants that stained the surface. “Tell me the truth.”