[So I have one more chapter for tonight, since I will have SO much to post before Monday... I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know your thoughts; I can't really tell what works for y'all, I just know what I like.]
Julia would pay for this dearly. She had sworn on her own life that Emery would not find out about the search for Grayson. That was this morning. Now, minutes before last period, Emery was waiting at Roman's locker, her jaw set hard in anger and determination.
"You…" she couldn't finish. She shook her head at herself, and tried again. "I had a speech worked out," she started, "But I'm so angry I can't even remember it."
Roman stepped back. For something so frail, she was surprisingly capable of striking fear in others when necessary. He held up his hands, trying to think of how to explain himself without making everything worse, but Emery had come with a mission and she wasn't leaving him alone until she'd had her say. She pushed him into an empty classroom nearby and leaned against the door to ensure they had privacy.
"If you had any suspicion that Grayson might be somewhere safe, or any suspicion that his parents might be involved, why wouldn't you just tell me?" she hissed. Her sense of betrayal was etched plainly on every feature.
"Me?!" Roman was frustrated, and Emery's anger finally gave him permission to reciprocate. He stepped toward her, inside her personal space, without noticing. "What about you! Your… boyfriend-" he nearly spat the hated word, "-has Redhawk parents. And you knew that, and it never even slowed you down, did it? You have been spending so much time with him, laughing, holding hands, kissing him," now that he had started, Roman couldn't check the torrent of emotion, "- and I have tried to be the better man, Emery, to step back and let you have that chance at happiness, honestly I have, because you deserve every happiness the world can give you - but not with him. I beg of you - just please: Not. With. Him." His voice crackled with unrestrained jealousy, and he turned away so she wouldn't see more.
"And now I have to go find him and bring him back to you, to stop out-and-out war between our people," he finished dejectedly. He knew he had crossed a line with her, and hated himself for it.
Emery's features softened behind his back. She reached out and grabbed his elbow lightly, and her brow furrowed when he shuddered at her touch. But he turned around, which was a good start. She searched his face for a better understanding of what he had just shared.
"I can't figure you out," she finally admitted. "That night in the cyper garden, I really believed I'd magically found the little boy I'd grieved over for 10 years. But then you were so cold and distant… So explain to me, why is our star hanging in your bedroom?" Roman flinched at the image of finding Emery and Grayson inside his pod, touching his things. "Making that star with you, it's a memory I'll hold in my heart forever," Emery continued, "and when I saw it, I thought maybe it meant something more to you, too. But - you were so mean when I tried to help Sophia join the swim team," Emery sighed and was silent for several beats. "Look. Can we just stop playing games, please? I don't think I'm very good at them."
"Please try to understand, I don't know where any of this will lead. This thing with Grayson - it involves both the Redhawks and the Trags, and both groups have proven they're willing to use violence. I can't guarantee your safety -" he started, but Emery cut him off. Now that they were actually talking, she wasn't going to lose this opportunity.
"Really, Roman, that's getting pretty old. I am more than capable of taking care of myself," she assured him. Her eyes sparked and the color rose in her cheeks as she warmed to the topic. Roman paced and listened as she complained about his overprotective attitude toward Sophia, about how he kept too much locked inside and refused to seek help from those who wanted to help him, about how she was getting tired of being treated like a three-year-old… finally he'd had enough.
He thought of his people, living a half-life for ten years behind gates and barbed wire; his father, killed while trying to protect the lowliest of Atrians; his mother, taking her dead husband's untrustworthy brother as a lover; his sister, nearly lost to him forever because of a hate-fueled prank.
"I don't want to do any of those things you're describing. But try to understand - I have lost so much already; I honestly don't think I could survive any more."
She stared right at him, unwavering in her conviction. "That excuse is not good enough anymore," she averred. "Trust me. I spent four years in the hospital, watching people lose their loved ones over, and over, and over again. I've seen people grasp at straws just like you, I've seen people try to control everything else in their life just like you, all because the one thing they couldn't control was death. It doesn't scare me, Roman. I've quite literally been through Hell, and I'm still here." She stepped forward. "So either we work to find Grayson as partners, or I have to let you go," she offered quietly. There was a hint of sadness in her voice. "Because I can't keep waiting for you to decide how you really feel about me, and I won't let myself be someone's prize."
