Consequences by Liz Schulte

Author:Liz Schulte
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Publisher: 4 Corners Press LLC
Published: 2012-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

The city lights flickered in through Holden’s windows. It was never dark in here. I stared at the ceiling and pushed against the couch trying to get comfortable, trying to quiet my mind. But the story about his brother kept playing through my head. It wasn’t fair. His life wasn’t fair. Holden was forced into adulthood, yet he’d tried to meet the challenge. I wanted to weep imagining him as a little boy with a freckled nose and the weight of the world on his shoulders, struggling to protect his beloved little brother. Never having a mom to hug him or kiss his scratches to make them better, yet he was capable of taking such tender care of the very few people he let into his life. No father to teach him how to be a man, but he beats himself up for every failing and tries to do right by me... And he managed to raise his brother away from his life. Holden’s had strength and poise he wasn’t aware of, or at least didn’t value, and it broke my heart.

Sighing, I rolled over and faced the back of the couch. But moments later a new wave of sympathy crashed into me. He’d been alone for so long, longer than he had been a jinni... Hands scooped beneath my knees and back and Holden lifted me into his arms.

“Neither of us will get any sleep this way,” he grumbled, carrying me into the bedroom. I began to object, but he interrupted. “I’m well aware of your rules, but I can’t sleep with you in there feeling sorry for me.”

He laid me on the bed and climbed in the other side. I slipped my legs under the covers, suddenly very nervous. He made it far too easy to free fall with no thoughts of the ground. I had been crushed once—a second time I wouldn’t survive. Squirming lower in the sheets, I didn’t look at Holden though the air was laden with his presence. I held still. I wanted to touch him, but struggled to maintain my distance. This promised to be a long night.

“Quintus is missing,” I whispered, looking for anything to break the tension filling the air.

Holden sighed. “That’s what you want to talk about right now?”

“No. Well, I mean yes. Maybe it’s something we should be concerned about.”

“How do you know he’s missing?”

“I ran into a guardian I sort of know today. He said something.”

Holden was quiet for a moment. “Did he say anything else?”

“They’re going to put me on trial and strip my powers from me.”

“And you’re just telling me this now.”

I hadn’t thought much about it, and I didn’t know how I felt about the prospect. I was focused on finding Juliet and the traitor. If they took my abilities away after that so be it. “It slipped my mind.” I bit my lip. “And besides, maybe it would be best for all of us if I wasn’t a guardian.”

I could hear Holden breathing. I didn’t know what I wanted him to say, but anything would’ve been better than silence.

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