The Dragon

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Things were silent for three days.

Six didn't visit.

Of course, I was conflicted, because I was the one who told Six to leave in the first place. The idea that not only was he cheating on his partner, but that he lied to me and was quite possibly just lying to use me infuriated me. It was incredibly unfair and hurtful. I wanted to believe Six was real, I truly did. I felt myself falling for him every time I thought about him, even though he'd lied to me. Christ, he was trying to kidnap me and take me to his dictator of a Mother to use me for my abilities. I shouldn't be attracted to him at all. I should be trying to kidnap him and interrogate him.

And yet the very thought of turning this over to Hades and seeing what he was capable of, seeing what he could do to Six, broke my heart. It terrified me. I'd seen my grandfather pop the heads off demons for less. If he found out Six had tried to kidnap me, what would he do to him?

The thought chilled me to the bone.

Everything was happening at once. It was too much. I just wanted to shut it all off. I wanted to shut off my feelings about Six. I wanted to shut off the danger I was clearly in. I wanted to shut off my fear of my grandfather. I just wanted to shut it all off.

"You're awfully quiet tonight." I looked up from my drink at Wren, who sat across the table from me. We, meaning I and the Cousins, were meeting up again to discuss the progress of our so-called plan, but of course, got distracted by drinking and dancing. Wren and I, however, weren't on the floor for once.

"I take it things didn't go well with your guy," Wren said. I shook my head, running my finger through the condensation on my glass. Wren sighed.

"Look. I get why you don't want to tell Hades. The guy can be scary when he's mad, but do you think he'd really hurt someone with a history like Six? Being manipulated by the Mother into being a soldier? I think Hades would feel sorry for him."

"Not if he knew the guy was trying to kidnap me," I muttered, "You already know all the things Hades did when it came to me, or any of us." Wren looked down at the table for a moment in silence, probably thinking about his own experiences with Hades. His loyalty to Hades was beyond even that of my own. He'd clearly made a big impact on Wren's life. However, even he could see that Hades became irrational when it came to family. His anger was unnecessarily aggressive.

"What if we explained things to him beforehand?" Wren asked.

"He'll lock me away again. I rather be dead."

"Jesus, Hay, it wasn't that bad."

"You were allowed to see people when they locked you down. You were allowed to go to school."

"My lockdown wasn't because someone was trying to kill me. He was just protecting you in the only way he knew how."

"Maybe he should learn to do things another way," I muttered, bringing my glass to my lips and finishing off my drink with a couple of deep chugs. I waved the server over and requested another drink, which he ran off to fetch. I watched him go and briefly, I thought of going after him.

He was a cute thing. Small, leanly muscled, dark curly hair, deep brown eyes, a crooked smile. He was certainly cute, but I just couldn't... feel anything for him. Not like I did for Six.

I ached for Six. Despite my anger. I ached to feel his hands in my hair, his breath against my skin, those dewy hazel eyes staring up at me with utter love and affection. I wanted to hear his husky warm voice defy me, then immediately turn around and flirt shyly. I wanted to see him eat more, I wanted to see him eat new things, so I could watch his eyes light up and his life change with just one bite.