Descend (Awakened Fate Book 2) Read Free Page A

You know, for propriety’s sake.”
    I grimaced. Dad and propriety. With kids like us, minus Ren anyway, I knew he would insist on finding her family and making certain who she was. Scandals were the last thing he needed.
    Though that didn’t stop it from being annoying.
    “If he puts out word that she’s in Nyciena, the Sylphaen might hear,” I argued. “He’ll understand keeping it quiet.”
    “That’s if he believes the Sylphaen are real.”
    I gave Niall an exasperated glance.
    “What?” he protested. “I’m just saying, he’s not the most believing kind.”
    “So help me convince him.”
    Niall looked at me tiredly. “Of course I will.” He paused. “Maybe if we got Ren to believe us, this’d go better.”
    “He’s worse than Dad.”
    “And Dad knows that. If Ren believes us, Dad will listen, no questions asked.”
    I sighed. That, at least, was true. It wasn’t the way I wanted to go about this, though – Ren was stubborn as hell, and if he got it in his head we were lying, it’d be almost impossible to change his mind. But Niall was still right. If we could convince him, things with Dad would go much more smoothly.
    Hopefully, anyway. Kindness and sympathy weren’t exactly Dad’s strong suits.
    “So who do you think she is, really?” Niall asked, watching Chloe again. “Or, you know… what.”
    I shook my head. “No idea.”
    “Have you told her about us?”
    I paused, and then shook my head again.
    His amusement returned. “Seriously? You didn’t even try playing that–”
    “I’m not chasing her, Niall.”
    He eyed me for a moment, still appearing amused. “If you say so.”
    I scowled, looking back at Chloe. It wasn’t like that, whatever Niall thought. I hadn’t said anything about my family because there hadn’t been time, and because there’d been bigger issues at hand. Issues like powerful and dangerous drugs. Like electrified, possessed water.
    Like the fact that nearly every time I’d seen the girl, a psychotic cult had been trying to kill her.
    “How about we see if the guards have figured out the best way back yet, now that the Vetorians are around?” I suggested, unable to keep the annoyance from my voice. “You know, get home before they spot us?”
    He grinned. “Okay,” he agreed, a touch indulgently. “If you’d rather talk about that than–”
    “Niall.”
    He laughed.
    I shook my head in exasperation. I knew him. He wasn’t going to let up on this. Not when there was the chance of some entertainment at my expense – no matter how wrong he was about the whole thing. Chloe was intriguing, yes, but because of the mystery surrounding what she did and the question of why the Sylphaen were after her. And she was attractive as well. She’d been beautiful before this and the change looked amazing on her now. I wasn’t blind.
    But none of that was the point. Chloe wasn’t just another girl to pursue. Even in the incredibly short time I’d known her, that’d become clear. With Chloe, it was… more complicated. She hadn’t grown up dehaian and she wasn’t like us. Not really. She didn’t know about our world, about her new form, about any of it. And to ignore all that just to get her into bed with me… I couldn’t. The thought was vaguely nauseating, since it’d feel too much like manipulating her and taking advantage of how confusing this all was for her right now.
    And no matter what Ren or others in Nyciena thought, taking advantage of girls had never been my style.
    Besides, I’d seen her with that other boy. The human, in the surf moments after her body transformed for the first time. She hadn’t wanted to leave him. And yes, if I’d cared to chase her, that would’ve just been a challenge to overcome.
    But it wasn’t like that. Not this time.
    Chloe was different.
     

Chapter Three
     
    Noah
     
    The front door slammed.
    Sitting on the couch, I didn’t look up. Around the living room, my four behemoth cousins leaned on the walls with