Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) Read Free Page B

own.”
    “Not about the destiny.”
    “Yet it happened,” she said, and her nails tapped against the stairwell. “Do you know how Jess is?”
    His jacket rustled, signaling a shrug. “I followed her around yesterday with her guard-to-be. She seemed normal enough.”
    I sat up. Jessica getting a guard was news to me.
    “I’m going to speak with him,” Camille said, but my father didn’t respond.
    I listened as Camille walked upstairs. She passed the kitchen, turning into the hallway, and soon her hand was on my doorknob. It twisted, clinking against the lock, and she breathed against the wood.
    “I know you heard me,” she said, but I didn’t move. I listened to the metal lock release, and she opened the door. Her eyes were black, a sign of her power, and then they flickered back to blue.
    “Why didn’t I know about the guard?” I asked.
    S he stepped inside, supporting herself against the doorframe. Her pixie cut had grown to her shoulders. “Maybe if you talked to someone, you would’ve been told.”
    I flinched. “I don’t feel like it.”
    “Quit the bullshit, Shoman.” She threw her hands into the air. “It’s incredibly frustrating, and it isn’t helping anyone.”
    “I wasn’t trying to help anyone,” I said, standing up from my bed. I wasn’t trying to be bitter. I was only trying to stay away. I knew my duties, and I didn’t need everyone in my face about it. I’d get it done, especially if it meant Jessica’s life.
    “So, what now?” Camille asked quietly, rocking from foot to foot. I knew what she was thinking. I only had four months before it was done. Darthon or I would be dead, and talking about it didn’t change the circumstances.
    “I train,” I said, but she shook her head. Apparently, I didn’t know what she was talking about. I was too caught up my own worries to think straight.
    “Let’s go out,” she said. “Go for a flight—”
    “No.”
    Air seethed through her teeth. “Why not?”
    I didn’t answer.
    “Eric.” Her rant came without a breath. “Do you know how much your stress is affecting everyone? They think you’re worried. They think you won’t succeed—”
    I was in her face before she knew it. I was a shade, transformed by anger, and I’d transported inches away from her. “Do you think this is easy, Camille? Is that it?” I was glaring, and my body was heated with darkness. “Because it isn’t. And it was never meant to be.”
    The nightlight beneath my desk exploded, and Camille stepped back, paling. I had never raised my voice to her.
    “What’s going on?” my fath er asked, rushing upstairs.
    I gripped the doorway to keep myself from yelling at him, too. “Just losing my shit again,” I grumbled.
    Camille bit her lip, reminding me of Jessica. She alw ays did that. I closed my eyes.
    “It’s entirely possible that you’re re acting to Jessica’s absence,” my father said.
    I forced myself to face him. “Meaning?”
    He cleared his throat, pulling at the ends of his suit jacket. He was sure ly meeting the elders later. “Meaning, your energies already mixed,” he said, refusing to say the truth. Just by kissing, we’d already been physically attached. My Dark side − Shoman − was adjusted to her existence. “Without her ability to transform, her energy doesn’t exist,” he continued. “It could cause a haywire in your control.”
    This was why she was my weakness. She affected me, even when she was absent. My hands threaded through my hair as I started to sizzle back into my human form. I could feel my hair curling. “That’s good news,” I murmured, but no one responded, and I kicked off the wall. “I’m going to the shelter.”
    “You should relax,” my father called after me. “Urte is planning a rigorous day for you tomorrow.”
    “I don’t have time to relax,” I said, disappearing before they tempted me to forget my responsibilities for a single night.

     
    Eric
     
    “You have to handle the pain,”