they pull each other into a tight hug.
Relief spills out from both of them, and I’m reminded that the last time Aydin probably saw Silva was just before he left the coven. Evrin slides the door of the van back and steps out to join in the greeting. I stay sitting exactly where I am, not ready to abandon the respite of the solitude just yet. Valen and Bastien step out of their van first and make a beeline for their uncle. They hug and joke with each other, but the lines around Silva’s eyes are tight, and it’s clear he’s not as happy as he’s pretending to be that they’re here.
The rest of my Chosen join the twins, and Torrez slowly unfolds himself from what looks like the back seat. Immediately his eyes find mine. The windows on all of the vans are tinted almost black, and I doubt that he can actually see me, but it’s weird how his gaze lands on mine like that. I run the tip of my finger over my Chosen runes, aware that Torrez’s mark still isn’t among them. The five other guys’ heads snap in my direction, and I immediately pull my hand away from their markings, not meaning to have called them. Valen moves in my direction, but Silva steps into his path.
“Aydin, you shouldn’t have brought them here, it’s not safe, and they’re not paladin yet,” Silva chastises as he pats Valen on the back.
“I couldn’t exactly stop them. So I figured best to have them here where we can keep an eye on them,” Aydin defends, as Silva pulls Bastien into another hug.
Bastien’s eyes flick back in my direction as he hugs his uncle, and I know my words about not trusting Silva are dancing around in his mind. The sudden need to reassure Bastien that he doesn’t have to choose fills me, and I slide out from my hiding spot in the van. I don’t care how mad I am at Silva, Bastien should know that he can love the uncle that raised him even if Silva hates me, even if I don’t trust him, and I would never expect otherwise.
I haven’t even stepped all the way out of the van into the chill night when I hear Silva demand, “What the hell are they doing here?” and his attention is locked onto Enoch and his coven. “I told you specifically not to involve the elders; what did you two do?” Silva accuses as he turns to Evrin and Aydin.
“We didn’t tell the elders, asshole,” Aydin informs Silva with an irritated glare. “They have a rune situation going on, and they’re here to train with Vinna.”
I don’t miss the way Silva stiffens at the sound of my name or the way he looks over Enoch and his coven and then runs his eyes over the new runes that Bastien, Knox and Ryker now have. Silva turns to find me, and the disapproval and mistrust in his eyes lashes out at me like a whip. He says nothing as he stares at me, but I can feel the unspoken contempt he has for the fact that I’ve marked more casters and tainted them with what I am.
Silva never saw my marking the boys as a good thing. Even after Reader Tearson explained that I was a Sentinel and that being Chosen was, according to him, an honor. Aydin’s words echo through my mind as he tells me about the lamia they tortured and the ominous warning he gave about me and what I am. I tell myself that this fear, this misconception, is what’s fueling Silva’s feelings and actions, but as I meet Silva’s glare and feel the judgment pulsating from him, I decide I just don’t give a fuck about the why behind his issues anymore.
Maybe I’ve been trying too hard to be understanding of Bastien and Knox and the shit that went down before we came here, but I’m tired of trying to walk in other people’s shoes or giving them the benefit of the doubt if they aren’t willing to do the same for me.
Fuck ’em.
I shore up my walls and refuse to absorb anymore of Silva’s vitriol. I let my gaze fill up with my own disappointment. Whether he likes it or not, I’m with his nephews. It’s time for him to grow the fuck up and let go of his bullshit assumptions about me and see me for who I really am. It’s time