Fury and Flame | 3

3 | 4

R I L E Y

It had been four days since we'd arrived at Delphinium's home. We'd only encountered her grandmother—a stern, businesslike woman that reminded me of the overseers at the orphanage—a few times. She seemed to always be out during the day.

      Most of the others were gathered in one of the sitting rooms. This house was larger and even less familial than Jaxon's had felt, so it was understandable that they might want to stay close together. Kane and Arlo were engaged in a game of chess while Benton watched on, occasionally chiming in to tell them he knew several ways to win already. Finn sat by the window and stared out at the wide view, ignoring Arlo's loud bragging. Jaxon was taking a break from building whatever it was he'd brought from his house and tossing a knife into the air, somehow catching it by the hilt every time. The crime lord came and went as he wished, not caring to tell anyone where he was going. As for Delphinium, we saw her as scarcely as her grandmother these days.

      I wondered if this was how the crew always was. Finn had told me about the fight they'd gone through when Benny turned them all against each other. But they seemed to have pulled themselves back together, especially in the wake of Marcella Krasowski's betrayal.

     I didn't look up at them. Though I still didn't trust them entirely, as they could clearly be dangerous if they wanted, I was jealous. They had what I wished for all my life—a bond so strong they might as well have been family. I might have once been a part of it, but I wasn't now. I didn't know them, and because of it, I was an outsider in their little group.

     It made me want to know who I used to be. At first, I couldn't care less and simply wanted to get back to my normal life at the orphanage. But as I became more involved in this life and heard stories of what I'd done, I began to wonder. Would I rather be her than who I was now? Was she ever able to escape the loneliness and sadness of her past life?

     I didn't want to broach the subject with any of the others. They didn't seem like the type for pity, which I hated anyway. But I couldn't say it to them, couldn't admit I didn't like who I was now that I'd heard who I could be. I didn't want them to know I was pathetic enough to feel weak and lonely and sad. Hell, I could barely admit it to myself. I had to be tough and guarded—a life in the orphanage had taught me to trust no one. And that would include my fellow criminals.

Through lowered lashes, I saw Delphinium walk into the room. She didn't smile even when the others voiced their greetings to her, possibly because Benton was in the group. It was obvious to even me that she was wary of him after what he'd done.

To my surprise, she stopped before me. This time, I looked up from examining my nails. "We need to talk," she said.

My face pulling into a frown, I asked, "About what?" Had we been friends before, gossiping about God-knew-what? She certainly didn't seem like the type.

She sat down in the chair next to mine. "You don't know how you lost your memories, do you?"

"No..." I dragged out, still suspicious. "Finn filled me in on most of the things I'd forgotten but he never said that." I shot a glance over her shoulder at the boy in the corner, face angled away from us to peer out the window.

A single nod. "I thought so. He wanted me to be the one to say it."

"What? What happened?" I hated myself for being so eager for the answer, but I was becoming ravenous for information on who I was before.

"There was a fight. It was when I was still...under the power of my master. You and the others were sent to take me down, but of course, I fought back. And I fought back a little too well. You tried to sneak up on me while Jake distracted me from the front, but I knew. I knew you'd be brave and crazy enough to do something like that. So I crushed you with a boulder. I thought I'd killed you, but it turned out..." A second passed. "It turned out you'd hit your head hard and lost your memory."