I headed over to them, slapping on a fake smile as I took a seat beside Tory, but the moment she looked at me, she gave me a twin look that said she knew something was up. I shook my head marginally and she squeezed my hand under the table, a promise in her eyes to talk to me later if I wanted to. She knew me so well, but honestly I didn’t see the point in talking about this. Orion had made up his mind. He was never going to stand at my side and say he was mine to the world, because he believed doing so would be the end of my bid for the throne. But what right did he have to decide that for me?
I picked my way through my veggie burger, trying to laugh and smile along with my friends as they shared jokes about Lionel’s interview and discussed our next move against him, but my heart was heavy and I wasn’t really engaged at all.
Seth came to sit at my side, whimpering softly while Max looked over at me with an expression that said I wasn’t doing well at keeping my emotions hidden. I didn’t know why I’d even bothered to try and hide it at all. They all knew me too well.
Caleb was sat at the far end of the table from me and Seth, and I looked to my Wolf friend beside me with a sad smile, knowing he was hurting inside. He’d told me everything that had happened between them and I wished I could help, but honestly it sounded like they needed to talk it out and Seth wasn’t willing to do that. So instead, the two of them barely spoke, or when they did they acted overly civil, pretending nothing was wrong at all, but quickly heading in different directions the moment they could escape each other’s company. It was painful to witness.
Geraldine took out the spyglass with the shadow eye in it, slamming it down on Darius’s plate.
“Oh for the love of fuck, Geraldine. Why?” Darius complained, the burger on his plate completely ruined as the eye swivelled back and forth inside the spyglass on top of it like a grotesque slimy animal.
“Because I am making a statement, you buffoon of a Dragoon.” She rolled her eyes like Darius was the one being unreasonable and Tory cracked up, earning her a narrowed eyed look from her boyfriend.
“We must push on to find a map of espial,” Geraldine said.
“And do we need the fucking shadow eye on my plate to discuss that?” Darius growled.
“Of course we do, you lout of a lizard,” she said firmly. “Has our Power Shamed ally heard from his contact at the FIB yet? Can she procure us a map?”
“No,” Darius said. “Francesca hasn’t responded to his message.”
“Fucking Fran,” I muttered and Tory glanced at me with a nod of solidarity.
“Fuck her up the butt with a coconut,” Tory added.
“And a pineapple,” Seth added. “And a bushel of prickly pears.”
“And a rotten carrot,” Tyler called across the table and I looked over at him, his hand on Xavier’s on the table while Sofia sat on Xavier’s other side, nuzzling him with a look of contentment on her face.
I was super freaking happy for them but also like, fuck my life. Because it was just another perfect relationship on display for everyone to see. Xavier was showing off his Subs at every chance he got, and they were doing the same to him in return. My fingers tightened around my fork as I gritted my teeth so hard it hurt, and Max raised his eyebrows at me.
“You okay there, little Vega?” he asked. “You’re giving off murderous death vibes, it’s kinda ruining my appetite.”
“Sorry,” I murmured, trying to focus enough to put up a barrier and keep my emotions from leaking out towards him. My Phoenix could stop him invading my feelings, but I still had to have magical barriers in place if I didn’t want him to get a taste of my emotions.
I sighed, stabbing my burger moodily, giving up any pretence that I was enjoying myself and Seth nuzzled into my head.
“You okay, babe?” he asked and I shrugged.
“Oh my stars,” Seth whispered, tugging on my sleeve but I ignored him, attacking my burger more viciously.
“Oh shit,” Tory gasped.
“Is he drunk?” Cal laughed.
“He’s walking straight, I think he’s sober,” Darius chuckled and Seth continued to tug on my sleeve, but I jerked my arm to stop him.
“My lady!” Geraldine gasped, half mounting the table as she waved her hand to get my attention. “Your one true love and shameful Vampire is here making quite the hullabaloo!”
My head snapped up as I frowned, spotting Orion striding through the cavern shirtless with ‘I love Darcy Vega’ written on his bare chest in what looked like lipstick. He jumped up onto a table and the rebels all gasped, trying to ignore him as he kicked their dinner plates and sent their cutlery and food flying everywhere.