They Rise at Dusk (Book #1) ✔️

Chapter 31: The War

It didn't take him long to find me.

I wasn't even done with the cigarette when I heard him pull open the terrace door and sneak up behind me.

"You're not allowed to talk to your family." Dorian said.

I walked to one of the ashtrays slowly, put out the cigarette, then faced Dorian. I wanted to keep my cool, even though everything underneath my skin itched and burned. Sometimes I felt like I just needed to kick the living shit out of him. Like I wanted to put my hands around his neck and watch life leave his eyes. I stopped in front of Dorian.

"I want back on the Council, Dorian." I said, hoping he could hear the determination in my voice. "You will let me talk to my father."

Dorian held my gaze for a long moment, before brushing it off with a chuckle, "No. No, I won't."

I let out a laugh, which somehow hurt my insides more than crying would.

"So much for your truce offer." My gums began to ache.

"My offer stands."

"Bullshit." I cut in. "You must know by now that you and I can never be at truce, not when we want the same thing."

"There is more than one seat on the Council, Ette."

"Don't call me that!" I shouted. "Fuck, you think my father would consider you over Edmond or Lucien? The only reason you're on the Council is because I chose to walk away! You might be able to manipulate my sisters, but you will never manipulate my father!"

Dorian laughed, "Oh, fuck you."

"No, fuck you!" I raised my voice even higher. "Is that all my sisters are to you? A means to an end? Is that what Elena was to you?"

I've never seen his facade drop as quickly as it did now, "I loved Elena."

"Oh, bullshit!" My temples throbbed, my heart pounded. "If you had loved her, you wouldn't have kissed me!"

Dorian's shoulders slumped. Something childish appeared behind the cruel blue in his eyes. The rawness of his gaze took me aback, and I had only a moment to accommodate to the fact we were now talking about this. We were opening that can of worms.

"So, that's the issue." Dorian stated, his face expressionless. "We're talking about it."

"Yes!" I yelled, wanting the entire New York City to hear my words. "If you had told her you weren't in love with her, she would still be alive."

"I couldn't have known." Dorian shook his head. "I-"

"You should have been a man!"

"I wasn't a man!" Dorian shouted, his voice cracking. "I was seventeen! She was my best friend, Odette. I didn't want to hurt her."

"Well, you hurt her." My lower lips trembled, and tears came to my eyes uninvited. "We hurt her."

"That's right. We hurt her." Dorian repeated, anger and sadness in his eyes twisting into something bitter. "But you punished me."

Tears slid down my cheeks. Helplessness and hatred intertwined in my stomach. The desperation I've felt upon finding out Elena was dead returned with a vengeance, but instead of running into anger, it ran into something sticky and dull. Guilt.

We should have locked the door. He should have locked the door. My sister's expression flashed in my mind, the look on her face when she opened the door and caught us on the bed.

"We both did it." Dorian said. "But you blamed me."

"Of course!" The present moment pulled me back in itself. "Of course, I blame you!"