“I’ve got Darcy, her sister, you and your family, Darius, Xavier, Cal, isn’t that enough?” he asked, proving his stubbornness.
“Yeah, it’s enough,” I admitted. “But there can always be more.” He shrugged and I clapped a hand to his back. “Anyway, tell me about you and my sister. Are you treating her well, because you know I’ll destroy your life if you’re not,” I said through a dark smile.
When Darcy had gotten back, I’d checked her over for signs of the curse with Orion, and found no definitive trace of Lavinia’s grip on her. She claimed her power felt restored and though my Sight wouldn’t offer me much in the way of an answer to confirm she was truly free of the curse, I was hopeful that my sisters’ Phoenix fire could fight it off.
“Of course I am,” he said firmly. “And you can hardly destroy my life, Noxy, what are you gonna do? Take away my status and make everyone repulsed by me? Oh wait, too late.”
I dug my fingers into his back, my wicked smile growing. “I’ll burn every book you love for starters.”
He inhaled sharply, looking to me in horror. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would. I’d rip those pages right out and make those hardbacks scream.”
“You’re a monster,” he cursed.
“So, she’s happy with you?” I pushed and a crease formed on his brow.
“Well, yeah. Mostly, I guess.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned.
“I mean…” He looked to me. “And don’t go after my fucking books for this, but I know she’s not exactly happy with my stance on our current situation.”
“Meaning?” I pressed and he sighed, looking pained as his dark eyes bored into mine.
“She doesn’t care about my Power Shaming because she hasn’t grown up in this world. She doesn’t understand how deeply this will affect us. Always. I’m never going to be accepted in society again. When this war is over, and pray to the fucking stars, the Vegas ascend to the throne, what then? I can’t stand at her side, she’ll lose the support of her people. She’ll be ridiculed. What if she resents me for that? She deserves an easy life, a partner she can openly be with without the judgement of the whole fucking world.”
I tried to see more of that future he spoke of, but the fate was too weak, barely plausible at all while Lionel sat on the throne.
“So what are you planning? Because I swear to the moon, Orio, if you leave her-”
“I won’t leave her,” he promised. “But I’m happy to remain in the background, let the world believe we’re not together.”
“Like you’re attempting to do here in The Burrows?” I scoffed and he nodded. “You should be proud to claim her as yours.”
“I am,” he snarled. “But you can’t deny this situation is putting me in a difficult position. What would you do?”
I thought on that, thinking of my wife and imagining what it would be like for us to face this kind of trial. And dammit, Orion was right. I wouldn’t allow her to be dragged down by the weight of my shaming, but still…there had to be some better answer than this.
I looked to the stars for guidance once more and saw such a mixture of fates that I winced away from them. There was so much death in my visions these days. I’d seen my family and friends die countless times in countless ways and sometimes I wished I could just switch off my mind and live in the now. It must have been such fucking peace during this war to at least have the hope that everything would be alright. But for so many people in this place, it seemed it might not be.
“I guess I would do what you’re doing and my wife would give me hell for it,” I admitted and Orion snorted a laugh.
“Yeah, well welcome to my world,” he said and I guided my Sight towards this situation specifically, trying not to see too far so that I didn’t get caught up in the chaotic visions of war.
A small pocket of possibility opened up before me as I watched Orion claiming Darcy as his publicly before the rebels and the outrage that caused in response, but my sister was smiling like it was the happiest moment of her life and my heart tugged, knowing their whole relationship had been lived between secrets. She deserved better. She deserved the whole damn world. Just like Tory did, but holy fuck had Darius gone and made a shit show out of their fate. I could only put out so many fires, and his was a raging inferno I couldn’t control.
As the vision continued, I watched the rebels withdrawing from Darcy, only following Tory’s command as more and more of them turned their back on her twin. I saw Orion begin to hate himself for what he’d done, his self-blame driving him to drink away the guilt of ruining her claim to the throne.