[[Until We Become Lions]]

Chapter 23

Earlier that night - Hotel Paraiso .

Evee woke up with a cold sweat. It was that time of night where it felt like nothing and everything existed at once. She did not want to admit this was happening more and more often. She didn't remember if she was having a dream, but she could remember flashes of images rolling through her head like an old film. Nowhere near the intensity that Danijela might face but it was constant enough that Evee had begun to lose sleep over it. Perhaps it was genetic. She decided against sharing this detail with Danijela, knowing it would only make her worry.

Evee got up from her bed and shuffled sleepily to the window. A storm was coming, evident by the low rumblings she heard in the distance. Other than that, the world felt so quiet.

The past few weeks had been interesting, to say the least. So much noise that this moment of silence felt so relieving. Against Dani's wishes, Evee had spent some days with the Marquessa at the True Yaran academy. The Marquessa had made a comment that Evee would make an excellent candidate, whatever that meant. Evee was just grateful that the others seemed to take to her - but it left her worried about how Danijela was adjusting. Danijela who had lived her entire life just surviving that she forgot about the part where you got to live too.

She saw the same thing in Diego sometimes too.

Part of her wanted to go check on Danijela, but part of Evee was hesitant to be alone with her after blowing her off at the party. Evee had just gotten so swept up at the moment - it was so invigorating and all happened so fast. She left her consciousness and good manners somewhere else and she could not forgive herself for acting so out of character. But everyone's eyes were on her - and then there was José Castillo, who was filling her head with promises of grandeur and telling her how much she would enjoy his personal island that she forgot where she had started in the first place and that all of this had been because of an astronomical game of chance.

Her mind lingered a little longer on the tertiary Castillo. He did not hold the same subtlety that Mr. Castillo and Diego presented themselves with. He lacked the grace, the charisma, but he had managed to fool her for a whole ten minutes before the evening had been over.

Even now, weeks later he wrote her letters, having returned to Madrugada to take care of official military business. Evee opened one and found the most vulgar language describing what activities awaited her at his island. She read as far as golden laced-thongs before shoving the letters under her mattress. She did not care to have Danijela find out about the letters, knowing she would blow a gasket. Honestly, Evee had lost all interest after seeing how terrible his dance moves were at her party. He lacked the energy or passion that she and Danijela relied on. To him, dancing was just that. For Evee and Danijela, it was a reminder that they had made it through all their worst days thanks to each other.

As the thought of her sister crossed her mind, Evee reached for the multitool that sat on her nightstand. A gift from both Danijela and Diego. Possibly the best birthday present of the entire evening because it had come from the two people she cared about the most. But she had tapped in again to this new facet of herself that disregarded it in favor of Mr. Castillo's present. The joy lasted a whole two hours before she realized as she laid in bed that night that monetary presents were all well and fine, but it was the small moments with her sister that night that made her truly happy. It was the marathon of James Dean movies and building model cars with Diego that she'd choose over and over again. She was disappointed with herself like she had let this new paradise get in the way of that.

She clutched the multitool close to her chest. Evee sighed, resigning to try to return to sleep when her head snapped up in alert. The creak of floorboards drew her attention to her bedroom door. Hotel Paraiso may have been a place for royalty, but it still had old bones.