Page 51 of Unveiled

Adrian huffed. “And you’re not thinking enough.”

“Maybe,” Connor said. “But right now? It looks like you need someone not thinking.”

Adrian looked away. “I don’t know what I need.”

Connor stepped closer carefully, as if Adrian were a spooked animal. “You’re the target,” he said quietly. “That’s a lot to carry.”

Adrian shook his head. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth.”

“I know,” Adrian snapped. “That’s why I don’t want to hear it.”

“Talk to me,” Connor murmured.

Adrian stared at him, then laughed. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t breathe properly. I can’t think. Everywhere I look I see people displaced because of me. The village is here because of me. They lost their homes, their safety, their world.”

Connor stepped closer. “Explain it to me.”

Adrian sighed. “If the Council wants me, if they took the village to get to me, then every wasted breath, every risk, every fear our people now face is because of me. And I don’t know how to bear that. So I need to find answers.”

Connor’s expression tightened, like he was holding something back with both hands. “Adrian,” he said. “People may suffer because this fucking Council wants power. Not because you exist.”

Adrian pressed hand to the mark. “Fuck this damned thing.”

“It’s not you,” Connor growled. “Don’t treat it like it’s you.”

“It is me,” Adrian said sharply. “And I’m going to make sure I wrest every damn bit of control it has over me, so I come out on top. Not them. Never them.”

Connor’s breath brushed his cheek. “They fear you. That’s why they want you.”

Adrian stared at him. “But the spark?”

“Whatever spark this is?” Connor’s jaw tightened. “They don’t get to use it. They don’t get to twist what’s ours.”

Adrian’s breath hitched. “Ours?”

Connor went very still. Silence hummed between them, warm, dangerous, and electric.

“You don’t know what you’re bloody saying,” Adrian muttered.

“I know exactly what I’m saying,” Connor said.

Adrian looked away sharply, his heart racing. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“I haven’t yet.”

Adrian hated how that steadied him. How it warmed something in him despite everything else that was happening to him. Like how the mark pulsed faintly as if it agreed. He slumped down on the floor, back against the wall.

Connor moved to his side, lowering himself to the floor next to him. “I told everyone to leave us alone. We can ask the questions later.”

They sat in silence. After a long moment, he said, “What if they take me?”

Connor’s reply was immediate. “They won’t.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can.”