Royal's Way

Chapter 17

"We went too far this time, Lily."

Lily ignored me, wiping away the soot and blood staining her hands in the stream.

I scowled, standing at her side. "We've had reasons to kill. Now, we just murdered an innocent man who was trying to protect his daughter. When are we actually going to try?"

"Oh, look who's talking," she suddenly argued, standing and approaching me toe-to-toe, "You have let them go up to four times now."

My eyes widened briefly. "You have no proof of that." "Do you want to bet on that?" she replied, flicking away the wetness of her hands, "You're lucky we're partners and that Andromeda would kick my ass if I did something stupid." "This isn't about me, Lily. This is about you, and your weird, sick obsession with torture."

She fought back the only way she knew how; hitting me across the face once again.

I wasn't upset anymore; I was getting mad.

"This job, Percy," she sneered, taking my cheek gently in her hand. The gesture felt maddeningly fake. "Is what defines our futures. This is life-changing. We do what we need to do." "'Need to do' my ass. Two unnecessary deaths occurred." "You're delusional." Her other hand messed with my earring. Her touch once comforted me, but nothing could make me angrier at this point.

"I know you've been taught in ways I wasn't. That death has so much more meaning than it really does. But we are put into more danger if we do not finish this mission."

She was lying.
I didn't respond.

She suddenly stood on the tips of her toes, pecking me on the lips briefly. I felt even more angry, but I tried to hold it back, and hide it from her, though I could feel my fingers getting hotter.

"Don't worry so much," she continued, "I have a plan."

I narrowed my eyes, wanting so badly to respond with a snarky remark, but decided otherwise. "Alright?"

"You know how Ruth carries around that light in order to stabilize her?"

==

I didn't sleep the entire night. I kept worrying, and voices haunted my brain, hovering around like bugs.

Miriam got to sleep quickly. Probably from the adrenaline fading. Her light had faded as she calmed down, but every once in a while, her eyes would flutter, and white glow would briefly illuminate the room around them dimly.

Neither me nor Miriam left my room the entire next day. She didn't care what we did; I'd turn on any movie, and she was cool with it. I think all she wanted was some company.

But the next night, I was still awake, the whispers even worse.

Eventually, I made a decision. I wasn't going to sleep.

I sat up in bed, looking over the edge of the bed to Miriam. She was still asleep, but her skin was glowing tonight.

I held my breath, unsure if I wanted to completely ignore what I had learned over this time. I didn't want to ignore Ruth's orders, but where was she?

I lied down again, though, trying to force myself to ignore those stupid whispers going off in my head like fireworks at three in the morning.

But they got louder. And louder, and louder.

Eventually, I gave up, leaning over and grabbing my earbuds from my nightstand, turning on music on my phone, and rolling over again.

They just got louder. They were practically drowning out the music.