“What do I think?” I lift my brow and tilt my head, allowing my hair to spill down the front of my dress.

She looks at me, waiting.

“I think—bring it on.”

She breaks into laughter, deep, belly-clutching laughter. Struggling to catch her breath as she smooths her hair again, tosses her bag over her shoulder, and continues to check herself out in the mirror, tilting her head from side to side and clearly admiring the view when she says, “You couldn’t possibly be serious. You actually want to start this, here?Now? ” She looks at me, face full of doubt.

“Seems as good a time and place as any.” I shrug. “I mean, why delay the inevitable, right?”

She holds my gaze as I rise from the bench, standing before her without a trace of fear, completely assured of my surplus of strength. Taking a moment to remind myself of the promise I made—that it’s up to her to make the first move. I don’t bait her, don’t do anything more than stand there and wait. The consequences are far too serious, far too permanent, for a reckless move like that. My only goal is to teach her a lesson, knock her down a notch or two. Show her that I’m stronger than she thinks, that it’s time for her to pull back, to retreat. Hoping it’ll prompt her to rethink all of this, to realize her big, bad plan is not such a wise move.

She shakes her head, rolls her eyes, mumbles something indecipherable under her breath, and tries to push past me, dismissing the whole thing with a wave of her hand. “Trust me. It’ll happen, when it happens.” She glances over her shoulder and narrows her gaze. “All you need to know is that you willnot control it, you willnot determine it, and you willnot see it coming. Makes itway more fun that way, don’t ya think?”

But just as she reaches the door, sure she’s in the clear, I appear right before her, barring her exit.

“Listen, Haven, you so much as lay a finger on Miles, Jude, or anyone else, and so help me you will not like what happens to you…”

Her lip curls, while her eyes go dark, darker than I’ve ever seen them before. “And what if I go after Stacia?” She smiles, though it’s more like a leer. “What’re you gonna do about that? You gonna risk your life—your verysoul —to protect her too?” Pausing long enough to allow the words to penetrate, before slapping her hand over her mouth in a feigned bout of shame. “Oh, never mind. I totally forgot she has Damen for that now. My bad.” She smirks and shoves past me, pushes right through the door.

Leaving me there on my own, knowing the victory may have been small, but having no doubt I succeeded in getting my message across.

The next move is hers.

Chapter 22

It’s hard to get used to this new lunchtime routine—with Haven holding court at table A, while Miles and I sit at our usual table C. Both of us pretending not to look anywhere near table D, where Damen sits beside Stacia, even though we’re both pretty much blatantly gaping at it.

Though as hard as it is to watch, Damen and I have come to a new understanding—one where we accept our respective responsibilities in the present, while I take some time to try and accept the sins of his past. Still, I know inside that it’s worth it. Worth the pain of seeing him like that—the way he gazes at me, the way he keeps watch over her—worth it because as long as I’m here, as long as Damen is there, Haven is contained.

Out of control but contained.

And no one gets hurt.

I twist the cap off of my elixir and take a deep swig. My eyes darting around the area, seeing Honor work overtime to maintain her place beside Haven—working harder than she ever had to work with Stacia, while Craig and some of his friends seem clearly relieved to have gotten off easy—reduced to sitting at a lesser table, but still, it could be worse. If it wasn’t for his connection to Honor, and the fact that she still has feelings for him, I’ve no doubt he’d be as bad off as Stacia.

“It’s like we’ve landed in upside-down bizarro world,” Miles says, between slurps of vanilla yogurt, eyes tracking the area as anxiously as mine. “I mean, everything’s backward, everything I thought I knew about this school, the good, the bad, and the completely hideous, is now totally different, and it’s all because ofher .” He nods toward our former friend, watching her for a moment before turning to me. “Is this what it was like for you when Roman took over?”

I turn, wide-eyed, caught completely off guard. We never really talk about that time, back when Roman hypnotized everyone and turned them all against me. Those were some of the darkest days of my life—or at least this life anyway.

Still, I just nod and say, “Yeah, it was pretty similar.” My gaze drifting toward Damen, remembering how he sat with Stacia then too. “Verysimilar, in fact.”

I play with the cap on my elixir, twisting it on and off, off and on, as my mind revisits the past. Choosing the more hurtful scenes to play over and over again, before reminding myself that I got through that time just as I’ll get through this time. As Ava always says:And this too shall pass .

Though she’s also quick to remind me that the phrase works both ways. That it’s true for the good times as well as the bad.

Everything passes. Everything experiences the birth and death cycle. Unless, of course, you’re like Damen and me, in which case you get stuck in the same eternal dance.

I shake the thought away, and finish my elixir. Tossing the empty bottle back into the bag I hike onto my shoulder as Miles gazes up from stirring his yogurt and says, “Going somewhere?”