Void(11)

My eyes were wide and wary, my whole body tensed. I had no idea what he was going to do, and it freaked me the fuck out. I was used to being avoided at all costs by supers, so his nearness made my heartbeat skyrocket. I didn’t know how to handle his close proximity. My amulet was vibrating, trying to hold back my hunger. But it wasn’t just hunger from the Void that I felt. Nope, for some idiotic reason, my stomach fluttered like I was a nerdy schoolgirl with a crush on the playground bully. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about what it would be like if he closed the gap between us and pressed his lips against mine.

“It means,” he whispered so low that only I could hear, “that you’d be pretty...if you weren’t a pariah. Such a shame. We could have had fun.”

He immediately backed away again, his expression smug as a puff of air left my mouth.

His words cut through me like a knife as he continued to smirk at me like the asshole he was. I had half a mind to take off my amulet and show him just how much fun we could really have, but a cold voice that caused my hair to stand on end made me stop in my tracks.

“Devicka?”

I turned at the sound of my mother’s voice, wincing at her chiding tone. She was getting out of a sleek, black town car pulled up at the curb beside us. The driver held the door open for her as she slid out onto the sidewalk, looking perfectly prim and proper in her gray dress suit. Her blonde hair that matched mine was swept up in a low bun. She brushed imaginary lint from her shoulders and smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt. Mother always had to look perfect.

I swiped the sweat that had gathered on my brow with the back of my hand before looking down at my own tattered outfit. Render hadn’t given me much time before crossing into the portal, so I was wearing black skinny jeans, a white V-neck, and my combat boots. One sweep of her eyes told me how much she disapproved, and I was stuck somewhere between craving her approval and not caring anymore.

“Mother.” Our greetings were always strained, always short.

She eyed the small spaces between myself and the other two men on either side of me, and her mouth turned down. “Keep your distance from the paragons, Devicka,” she ordered before clenching her bright teeth in displeasure. Her eyes skimmed my outfit again, and a full-on snarl kissed her lips, spelled with permanent, blood-red lipstick. She could never look disheveled, never look like she didn’t have her shit together.

I bristled instantly, hating the way she looked at me—like I was a disease she didn’t want to spread. “I have my amulet on,” I said defensively, though it sounded lame even to my own ears. I knew the risks. I always knew the risks. It was something she reminded me of every damn chance she got.

“And what if that amulet should fail? Or become overloaded? Or fall off?” she challenged in rapid-fire succession, making me slump my shoulders in shame. “You know the rules. You are not to endanger the lives of supers. Especially not the paragons of their races. These are the future leaders of our world and should be treated attentively and with respect,” she said, coming up to stand next to Quade.

“I know,” I mumbled, looking at my shoes. I hated how small she always made me feel.

Satisfied, she looked away from me and gave Quade an affectionate smile before greeting him with a hug that she’d never give me.

Not once did it ever cross her mind that it was their damn fault. They were the ones crowding me—not the other way around. They obviously found the entire exchange amusing too, because they both had irritating smirks on their faces and refused to move an inch, continuing to bookend me on either side.

Swallowing down all the angry retorts I wanted to say, I backed further away, leaving them in front of me. As soon as my mother deemed that I was far enough away from everyone, she disregarded me completely and started to visit with Quade and Render.

“Quade, you did wonderful work on that elemental presentation for the council. Everyone is still talking about it,” she said.

“I had an excellent teacher,” Quade replied with an easy, bright smile before adjusting the gray tie that complimented his perfectly tailored suit on his perfectly elemental body.

My mother beamed. She fucking beamed at him like he was the best thing to ever come into existence. Like she wished that he was her child instead of me. There was a painfully obvious parental pride in her eyes that I would never be able to unsee.

I shouldn’t care, I kept telling myself. I shouldn’t care anymore. It had been almost ten years since she’d started despising me, so this was nothing new. Except no matter how many times I tried to convince myself not to care, there was still a rotten seed in my gut that sprouted with more tangled envy and thorned spite every time I was denied what every child had a right to—a mother’s love.

“Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?” my mother asked him. “We should go over that meeting and get those responses sent to the newspapers.”

Quade nodded. “Of course. I look forward to it.”

What a suck up.

My mother turned her attention on Render with noticeably less warmth. “Mr. Tillson,” she greeted with false politeness. “I trust you had no difficulties in escorting my daughter?”

“Of course not,” he replied, expressionless.

My mother nodded. She knew the importance of working with the other supers on the council, but there was still prejudice between the races. Just because they willingly worked together didn’t mean they had to like it. The council was meant to bring the different supernaturals together, but it usually just turned wars into political games.