Trial by Fire

They had to spend the next few days hiding out at the safe house. Since the fight in the ally, Rowan’s apartment had been crawling with Citadel soldiers, and they’d had to abandon it and move in with Esmeralda. She brought them supplies and even gave Lily a few of her own dresses to wear. Lily tried to reach out to her, feeling badly about how she had treated her on their first meeting, but Esmeralda was slow to thaw and never really warmed up to her.

Every day, they went down into the tunnel to rebuild the collapsed passage as carefully as they could. They brought candles and Lily sat close to their lambent light, channeling energy into Caleb and Rowan. With Lily’s assistance, they could pick up huge boulders with one hand and carry them out silently, one by one. It was slow work, not because the earth was difficult to move with so much strength flowing into them, but because they didn’t dare do anything that would disturb the seismic wards above. They couldn’t even talk aloud or tread heavily while they were underground.

For Lily, it was like living in a grave. There were many times she felt panic steal her breath and she’d have to rush out—back up through the hatch and into the sunlight. Fear of the dark, confined space wasn’t the only thing Lily had to contend with. She was more exhausted every day. The guys got their energy from her, and even though she was the one sitting while they worked, Lily was the one who ended up feeling drained by it.

The enforced silence of the hideout left Tristan outside Lily’s reach for many hours a day. He could mindspeak with Caleb and Rowan, and they could relay his thoughts to her, but it wasn’t the same. Not only was Tristan unable to work without tiring the way Rowan and Caleb could with Lily fueling them, but he was also cut off from her in a way they weren’t, and when the workday was done, she was usually too tired to spend any time with him. Tristan was getting left out, and tension had begun to build between him and Rowan. By the end of the third day, Tristan had had enough.

“I want everyone to hear this,” Tristan said, breaking out of mindspeak with Rowan. “I want Lily to claim me. It doesn’t make sense for me to be blundering around down there without her strength.”

“We’ll be through it in another day. Don’t, Tristan.” Rowan wasn’t pleading, he was ordering.

“Why not?” Lily asked. “We should have done this weeks ago, when you two first started teaching me. Why are you so against me claiming him?”

Rowan didn’t answer.

“Because he thinks we need someone outside your influence, just in case,” Tristan said.

“In case of what?” Lily asked. Fatigue finally made her lose her temper. “In case I suddenly turn psycho and start hanging everyone else’s fathers?” Rowan looked at Lily, his mouth parted in shock. “Rowan,” Lily began, knowing she had gone too far. He turned and left the room before she could continue.

She stood very still for a moment, hoping that if she didn’t move she could somehow figure out a way to take back what she’d said, then darted after him, following him upstairs. He’d shut the door to the room he, Tristan, and Caleb had been using as theirs. Lily knocked, but he didn’t answer.

Rowan. Let me in.

Get out of my head, Lily.

No. We need to talk.

There’s nothing I want to say to you.

“Open the damn door before I kick it in,” Lily said, her voice louder than it should be.

The door flew open. Rowan grabbed her, pulled her into his room, and slammed the door behind her. He was so angry he was shaking.

“I’m sorry,” Lily said, meaning it with her whole heart.

She opened her feelings up to him, the way he had when he’d apologized to her. She showed him a fragment of Caleb’s memory, one of Rowan crying, and she let him feel how ashamed she was for being so careless about something that meant so much. He looked surprised for a moment, and then all his anger left him in a rush.