Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy, #3)

by Lauren Roberts

Ellie doesn’t seem to notice as she continues with that soft smile of hers. “But I enjoy seeing you giddy like this. It reminds me of Adena and her boy from Loot.” My whole body stiffens beneath her hand currently dragging a dark line of kohl atop my lashes. “What are you talking about?” I hear the hesitance in her voice, the quiet sadness that remains there. “That’s right. She never told you, did she?” She lets the words linger. “There was this boy she would sneak off to see while you were in the Trials.” My heart pounds in time with her words, aching like it has since the day Adena died. “Why… why didn’t she tell me?” Ellie pulls back, allowing me to open the eyes now welling with tears. “She didn’t want to distract you from the Trials.” Her lips pull into a thin smile. “She said you wouldn’t rest until you met him and approved. So the plan was to tell you after. But then…” “There was no after,” I whisper, turning away with a shuddering breath. “She was always too damn selfless.” We fall silent as Ellie hesitantly returns to the task at hand. After a long while in which I dwell only within my thoughts, I manage to gather enough courage to peek at my reflection. But I don’t recognize the girl within it. Her lashes are darkened, her lips tinted the color of blood. She looks like the sharpness that piercing grief hones one into. Like fearlessness carved out of necessity, not courage. “I want her with me tonight. Adena,” I say quietly, breaking the silence that has long stre...