Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2)(56)

“Really?” Solana snaps, before I can form a coherent reply.

“Because it looks like you’re bonded to another girl.”

Vane turns around to face her. “Well, okay, I guess it is what it

looks like to you—and I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” He

turns back to me. “But I promise, she’s only here because she offered to protect my parents while I was gone. And she wasn’t even supposed to be home,” he adds, turning back to Solana. “You said you’d

take them somewhere safe.”

“I did. And then I heard on the winds that the Gales had turned

back, so we did the same.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re in his bed,” I say, wishing I

didn’t sound as jealous as I feel. She has just as much right to be there

as me—probably more, since she’s the one with the promise link on

her wrist.

Still, an irrational rage makes me want to claw at her face

when she crosses her arms and says, “Vane and I have been sleeping

together.”

“Just sleeping,” Vane corrects—glaring at her before he turns

back to me. “And only because I was desperate. I told you Raiden was

giving me nightmares, right? Solana knows a trick that blocks them.” I want to nod—want to make the pieces of his story fit together

into a truth that washes away the sour lump in my throat. But I can’t stop staring at the dent in Vane’s pillow, imaging

Solana lying in the dark, waiting for him to crawl into bed next to

her.

Is that what he wanted?

“Hey,” Vane says, turning my chin toward him and forcing me to

look in his eyes. They’re wide and worried and focused only on me.

“I promise, I dreamed about you the entire time.”

“You did?” Solana and I ask at the same time.

I’m mildly triumphant when he ignores her and tells me, “I

dreamed about the day I tried to run away when I was seven. Do you remember that? It was snowing and I got lost in the woods and then I fell and couldn’t get up and I thought I was going to die out there all alone. But you found me, and you called your dad and he brought me home. And even though we weren’t friends, you stayed with me that night by the fire until I fell asleep. I asked you to stay

and you stayed.”

I hear Solana mumble the word “stay,” but I can’t pull my eyes

away from Vane.

I’d blocked out that moment with everything else about that

time in my life. But I do remember finding him in the woods, trembling like a fallen fledgling and clinging to my hand like I was the

only thing that mattered in the world. And I remember staring

at him later that night, as the firelight danced across his skin, and

thinking he had a nice face.

I was seven and I didn’t even know what that thought meant. But it was there.

Before Raiden’s Stormer broke our lives apart and the Gales

made their grand plans for Vane.

“Vane—is that you?”

Vane grumbles something under his breath as his mom bursts

into the room. “Thank God—I’ve been so worried. . . .”

Her words fade away when she notices me.

“Oh.” Her eyes dart from Solana to Vane. Then back to me.

“Oh.”

“Don’t start, Mom,” Vane warns as he reaches for my hand. “It’s

been a long day.”

Start what? I wonder as his mom steps closer to examine the bruise on his shoulder. It looks so much more painful in the bright light—though the one on his side is worse. I can’t even look at the

wide blue-black splotch without feeling my eyes burn.

“What happened?” she asks, her voice shaking as she reaches

for the cut on his cheek. “I thought Gus was taking you somewhere

safe—where is he? And when did Audra—”

“Can we save the twenty questions for later?” Vane interrupts.

“I’m fine. Gus is waiting for the other Gales, and the rest is a really

long story I don’t have the energy to tell right now. But it involves

Raiden. And a giant haboob.”

“You saw Raiden?” Solana whispers.

He nods and she shivers and wraps her arms around herself—

which makes her dress cut even lower on her chest.

I glance at Vane to see if he noticed, but he’s not looking at her.

He’s looking at me—at the wound on my side.

He leans down, lifting the hem of my shirt, and even I can’t help

gasping when I see the gash in the light. The Westerly is keeping it

clean for me, but the cut is deep and the jagged skin is practically

shredded.

I try to cover the ugly wound, but Vane grabs my hands to stop

me. “Do we still have a first aid kit, Mom?”

“She needs to go to the hospital. You both probably do. I’ll go

wake your dad—”

“We can’t do that, Mom. The doctors would have all kinds of

questions about how we got hurt. Plus human medicine makes us

sick, remember?”