The Darkest Legacy (Darkest Min - Alexandra Bracken Page 0,39

I had to say something.

That only mattered, though, if there was an ounce of truth to this story. And every interaction I’d had with the two of them pointed to it being a convenient cover, including Roman’s reluctance to say more now.

“I’m sorry,” he said in that quiet voice of his, the one that didn’t disturb the silence so much as give it depth. “God, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say, other than thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” I said, ignoring the pull of those eyes. Pain had its own gravity, and his words were heavy with it, threatening to pull me in. “I really didn’t do much.”

“You stayed with Priyanka,” he insisted. “You helped her.”

Helped would have implied I had a choice. But even if nothing else he said was true, those words, at least, felt genuine to me.

“I’m going to make it up to you,” he said, his low voice rumbling. “I won’t forget this, and I won’t ever let you down like that again.”

At that, the words blistering with sincerity, I finally looked. Roman was watching me intently, his face a kaleidoscope of barely restrained emotions.

“You couldn’t help it,” I said, feeling my skin heat up again. The way he looked at me was like…

Like nothing.

Like a liar.

I turned back to the road. “It’s fine. Really. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“It is a big deal,” he said quietly. “It’s my only deal. At least the only one that matters to me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t understand why I wanted to say something to that. In that moment I felt as soft as a petal, when all I’d ever wanted was to grow a few thorns.

“Priyanka and I…We…” Roman struggled to put the thought together.

“You only have each other,” I finished. “She told me that, too.”

He shook his head, running a rough hand back through his dark, thick hair.

“What? Is that not true?” I pressed.

“It’s true enough,” Roman said, rubbing at the back of his scarred hand. “I had…I lost my sister. I lost her, just like we’d lost our mother years before. As hard as I tried to take care of her, it all fell apart in the end. The man raising us had the heart of a snake, and I couldn’t save my sister from him. I couldn’t keep my family together.”

I tried to swallow whatever was lodged in my throat. “I’m sorry.”

“Even if it doesn’t make sense to you…when I say that what you did in helping Priyanka means everything to me, it’s the truth. It’s my absolute truth.”

“I understand,” I said before I could stop myself. “Probably better than you think.”

I hadn’t been able to keep my family together, either.

Maybe this was all a play, part of whatever their bigger plan was—get me on their side by working some quality emotional manipulation. Even as the thought crossed my mind, I wanted to brush it away. The only times I felt like they were being real were the ones where their control over the situation slipped and they spoke or acted from a place of deep feeling. These little glimpses of who they were beneath the deception, two kids who fought like hell for each other, made me think the endgame wasn’t to hurt or kill me. Or at least I hoped.

It was a good ten minutes before I realized Roman and I had been sitting in silence. I stole a look at him out of the corner of my eye, but he seemed as unbothered by quiet as I was.

For the first time in a long while, I didn’t feel like I had to say anything. There was no one to comfort or convince. There was no one to charm or encourage. I disappeared into myself as I drove on, trying to find my center. I could breathe. Be still.

What I hadn’t expected was how much Roman seemed to need it, too.

Some people feared silence. They did anything to fill it, talking about things that didn’t matter, asking questions just to hear some kind of response. It seemed to me that a lot of people saw it as a kind of failure. Evidence that they weren’t interesting enough, or that a bond wasn’t strong enough. Or maybe they were just nervous about what it would reveal about themselves.

“Do you want a break?” he asked quietly, catching me looking.

“No, I’m fine,” I said. I wasn’t turning this wheel over to either of them. As