The Unholy Trinity

13

"Should we call her?" Aurora asks, biting her thumbnail nervously.

Neil stops mid-pace to glare at Aurora. "Are we coming up with idiotic ideas now?"

She narrows her eyes at him. "How is that a bad idea?"

"Oh, you wanna know why?"

"Please, I would love to hear you explanation."

"She's busy! It's blatantly obvious why we shouldn't bother her!"

Aurora stands up from her perch on the couch of Neil's basement/lair. "She could be dead!"

"Milan can handle herself quite well. I have faith in her. Unlike some people." He mutters the last bit quietly, under his breath.

Aurora scoffs. "You stupid knucklehead. I have faith in her too."

"Then, let's wait. She'll show up." He walks across the room and plants himself on the dusty couch.

Aurora hesitates only briefly before sitting beside him. "Fine." She crosses her arms over her shoulder and sternly keeps her face forward.

Internally, Neil is going through images in his head of a mangled corpse version of Milan. He's not showing his high concern due to Aurora's smart mouth. And also him wanting to be the reasonable one.

The door slams open and both Aurora and Neil jump up from the couch and look up the staircase. They mutually hope to see Milan - expect it, really. But it's not.

It's Harrison.

He offers a small, forced smile and slowly begins his descend.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Neil growls.

Aurora raises her brows at his tone.

"I came to see Milan," he answers when he's only a couple steps away from the two.

"She's not here," Neil answers. He hates that Harrison is back in town. He hates that he is attractive. He hates that he's taller than him. He hates him and his dumb dimples and his dumb dark hair. All of it. Hates, hates, hates it.

"Where is she, then? I tried her home but it looked abandoned."

"And this was the second place you tried...why?"

Harrison shifts uncomfortably at the question. "Look, I really need to talk to Milan. It's important.There's things she needs to know. To see. Please." He's basically begging now and Neil secretly loves it.

Meanwhile, Aurora stops her out-of-character silence to blurt out Milan's whereabouts. Blame it on a moment of maternal weakness.

"Aurora!" Neil fumes, somehow even more angered at Aurora for her sudden truth serum moment.

She throws her arms up. "What? What's the matter with telling him? He says it's important."

Neil huffs. "Important? He's an asshole."

"I don't see how those two correlate." Aurora remarks.

"I'm not an asshole," Harrison comments to the side. "How does Milan know she can trust the king?"

"She doesn't." Aurora replies.

Neil is about ready to flat out scream when the door opens again. No expectations from Neil nor Aurora this time but this time it is Milan jostling down the staircase.

"Millie!" Aurora beams before bear hugging Milan.

Neil releases a sigh of relief. Exhausting tension rolling off his shoulders instantly at the sight of her.