Read Online Firefight in Darkness by Katie Jennings - Free Book Online Page A

that was when she noticed her mother. It wasn’t hard, really, as Nyxa was standing but three feet away from Brock with the other Fates, the wine glass she held clenched so tightly in her hand that her knuckles were bright white. Her pale face was flushed and her dark eyes were madder than usual. But it wasn’t either of those things that startled Blythe. Those were both normal and easily handled. No, what startled her was the blatant longing mixed with the anguish in her eyes.
    Nova was standing beside their mother, her eyes shifting to Blythe’s when she noticed her staring. She did little to hold back the bitterness from showing on her face.
    And those eyes, dark and rounded and melancholy, held hers for several long moments before Lucian touched her arm and startled her.
    “Are you alright, honeypot?” He asked her quietly, his hand resting on her forearm.
    “You know what? No, I’m not.” She said suddenly, her mind instantly made up on what she wanted to do. “Excuse me.”
    She rose from the sofa and walked purposefully towards where Brock was standing, her head held high. When she reached him, she had to nudge herself by the Muses to put herself in his line of sight.
    “I’m sorry, ladies, but I need to have a word with the gentleman. If you’ll excuse us.” She said regally, smiling as she grabbed her father’s arm and proceeded to tug him out of the room.
    “Babydoll, can’t this wait till later? I was halfway through my joke about the elephant and the mouse.”
    “Nope, it can’t wait.” She shut the door to the parlor so they could be alone in the empty dining hall. Whirling around to face him, she jabbed a finger into his chest, her eyes on fire. “You need to shape up. I’m tired of training you and expecting things of you and not having you deliver. Either you give it one hundred percent, or you give it nothing, I’m not going to play this game with you. And, to answer the question I know you’re dying to ask, I’m not joking.”
    “I’ve been trying, Blythe, Jesus. Don’t you think maybe you’ve been pushing me too hard?” Anger flashed in his eyes, coupled with the annoyance on his face. She could tell that he very clearly thought she was being overdramatic. Well, if he didn’t want to take this seriously, then he was going to see just how overdramatic she could be.
    “You know, I don’t think that asking you to show up on time and actually give a damn about learning the important stuff is really asking all that much. I get that you want time to relax and enjoy being home, but we only meet for five, six hours out of the day. You have plenty of free time as it is. You seriously can’t devote even five measly hours to, huh, the purpose of your existence?”
    “You know, kiddo, I love you, but you’re one tough cookie. Maybe it’s best if we put this work stuff on hold for awhile. I’ll get the kinks out of my system, and then we can get back to work. Is that alright with you?”
    She was silent for a moment, fighting tooth and nail to hold back the barrage of snippy comments she wanted to hurl his way. Teeth clenched, she sucked in a breath and slowly exhaled before speaking again.
    “Fine. One week, no more. Goodnight.”
    She turned on her heel and left the room, leaving him behind looking both pleased and confused by how easily she had given in.
    The truth of it was, she was worn out. Worn out from him, worn out from worrying about her sister, worn out from trying to understand everyone else’s feelings while ignoring her own. But the fact of the matter was that it was just downright impossible for her to ignore her own feelings, her own heart. She was too damn stubborn to let that happen.
    She slammed the door to her bedroom and threw herself down upon the bed, and prayed for sleep to come quickly so she could just stop thinking.
    ♦ ♦ ♦
    Sleep was not restful. In fact, her dreams were perhaps more chaotic than her reality. In them she was a warrior, a general