Dark Descent: The Arondight Codex - Book One by R Nicole (best books to read all time TXT) 📗

one of them?” He looked aghast and it kind of hurt.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Scarlett…”

I waited, my eyes prickling with tears.

“Ah, Scarlett.” A familiar singsong voice filled the metallic room, reverberating back and forth. “I haven’t seen you in a while. How is your training going?”

I spun on my heel and came face to face with Greer. Perfect Greer, who’d come down from her exalted position sitting on the Codex to see my best friend.

“Fine,” I said a little too sharply.

“I see Wilder has been hard on you,” she noted. “That’s good.”

I stared at her in surprise, then glanced at Jackson. She seemed rather bitchy tonight. I was starting to sense I’d intruded on a pre-organised interlude. Was Greer interested in Jackson? Like, romantically? Absurd. It was just the demon thing. That’s all. She was checking on him because her position demanded it.

“Jackson is doing just fine,” she said with a sickly sweet smile. “Ramona has been able to almost completely halt the transformation.”

“Really?” I glanced at Jackson hopefully, but his attention was on Greer. “That’s great.”

“She believes there will be no adverse effects,” she added. “Perhaps some enhancements, but nothing negative.”

“I don’t need my glasses anymore,” Jackson confirmed. “And I don’t seem to need much sleep, though you look like you need it, Scarlett.”

“He’s right.” Greer clucked her tongue. “You should get your rest. Wilder won’t allow you to have a day to recuperate. Training never stops for a Natural.”

“But…”

“It’s okay, Scarlett,” Jackson said. “You look exhausted. I get it.”

“Please don’t be mad at me,” I murmured.

“I’m not,” he replied, edging towards the bars. “I’m angry now, but I’ll get over it. This is a huge, scary thing for me. You’ve got your own transformation to worry about.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.” His voice held a promise. Glancing at Greer, he added, “Go. Get some rest. I’ll be okay.”

Reluctantly, I backed away from the bars, my heart heavy. This didn’t feel right, which only made me stew over the warnings Wilder had whispered in my ear. Something was going on here. Something bigger than me, Jackson, and even Wilder.

As I walked away, I knew I was losing him, and life without Jackson wasn’t a life I wanted to live.

15

I landed on my back, the impact forcing the air out of my lungs.

Gasping, I stared at the ceiling, my heart beating so hard it almost burst through my chest cavity.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Wilder declared, standing over me, “but after showing so much promise, you’re actually getting worse.”

I wheezed, my brow creasing tenfold. After my visit to the vaults last night, I’d stewed over Jackson so much that I’d worked myself into a frenzy. We never argued. Never. I’d stared up at the skylight, studying the stained glass Lady of the Lake and wished I could have gone back in time and visited him more often. Or immediately left to hunt down the piece of trash who mutated him the moment I woke up.

So, due to all the stewing, I hadn’t gotten any sleep that meant anything, but had gained puffy eyes and a foul mood. I’d brought them along to training, especially for Wilder. Now we had matching his and hers arseholery.

Rolling onto my side, I pushed myself up, my lungs searing. Wilder’s way of training was so brutal, and I had to wonder who pissed him off as a child. I guessed he had his reasons for being the way he was, but he didn’t have to take it out on me by flipping my poor bruised ego over his shoulder.

“Get up,” he said. “Pain is—”

“Weakness leaving the body?” I interrupted.

“Sure. Let’s go with that.”

Scowling, I forced myself to my feet. Wilder wasn’t helping soothe my foul mood, but what did I expect? A lollipop? Actually, now I thought about it…

“Get it off your chest, Scarlett,” he said. “I don’t particularly want to hear it, but at least then we can get on with more important things.”

I wiped my brow. “Jackson’s mad at me.”

“Lover’s tiff?” Wilder shot back with a smirk.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Jackson and I aren’t a thing. We’re friends.”

“You’re so blind, Purples. That nerdy little hybrid is in love with you.”

“Yeah? Well Greer’s been going to see him every day since he got here,” I fired back. “She’s very invested in him, just so you know.”

His stupid smirk faded, and I knew I’d hit the right button.

“What’s this really about, Purples?” he asked, his tone turning sour.

I sucked a sharp breath through my teeth. There were so many things jacked up about our current situation, and it was difficult to keep up with all the plot points.

“Jackson’s mutating into a demon hybrid,” I declared. “And what about the Infernal who did this to him?”

“What about it?”

I threw my hands into the air and scoffed, “What about it? Bloody hell, Wilder. You kill it, that’s what you do!”

He raised his eyebrows. “And that there is why you won’t be allowed to leave the Sanctum any time soon.”

“So, I’m a prisoner?”

“You’re on probation. There’s a difference. Besides, if you go out hunting with that kind of attitude, you’ll get yourself possessed and locked in the vault, too. Vendettas don’t usually end well.”

I faced the rack of arondight blades and scowled. Maybe not, but at least those fools were doing something. That Infernal was harassing me. Maybe if I went outside the Sanctum…

“What good am I in here?” I asked. “Getting my arse beat, losing my best friend, and suffering through your constant barrage of insults. It’s one humiliation after another with you people.”

“There’s your second problem,” Wilder fired back, his voice rising. “You don’t see yourself as a Natural. You see it as you versus the world. Has anything I’ve said to you stuck in that brain of yours?”

“Obviously not.” I reached out, shielding the movement from Wilder, and snatched the closest arondight blade. Slipping it down the front of my trousers, I let my anger percolate. “While I’m