Exodus (The Ravenhood Duet, #2)

by Kate Stewart

But time has been on my side. It’s healed me. It’s strengthened me and enraged me.

two types of people,” he goes on, completely unfazed. “There’s the one that will walk past that offending piece of lint or paper on the floor every single day and tell themselves they’ll get to it. And those that will pick it up the minute they spot it. They’ll figure out where it came from, trash it, and forget it was ever there. But, for the ones that walk by it every day, it will become a problem. It will start to fester. Another something they’ll have to get to. Another pea on their plate. They’ll start to look for it, its presence a nuisance, and tell themselves

they’ll get to it tomorrow. Until one day, it’s more of a crisis of conscience than a pea.”

“You are a fighter. I’ll give you that.” His lips inches away, he searches my eyes. “But you give too much for not enough. You trust too easily because you’ve been lonely your whole fucking life.”

“You’re so young,” he looks over to me before pulling a piece of hair free from where it’s stuck on my lip. I open my mouth to object, but he presses a finger to it to silence me. “I don’t mean that in a condescending way. But when you live long enough, you won’t see things as absolute, the way you do now. You’ve got simple solutions for complicated problems. But the more you learn, the more jaded you’ll become. The more you’ll question your decisions, regret some of your choices. Just don’t let them change you.

“After you dream, plan, that’s when the work begins. And that’s where it gets the most complicated, your plans can get convoluted, your dreams may get watered down and grow more distant, seem out of reach, and sometimes, sometimes you lose sight of what’s important and hurt the people who rely on you. Others might get hurt in the process.” Our eyes lock with his confession. “And when that happens,” he swallows, “it might make you question who you are and just how far you will go.”

My insatiable need for him flows like lava through my veins spurring the ache, one I know, soul-deep he’s the only one capable of sating.

But it’s still there. And how I wish it weren’t. How I wish that fate or karma or whatever it is that decided to tether us together would disappear and release me, release us both. But it’s there, and it’s so loud, it might as well be the pound of a drum.

We all don’t end up with the one we hoped to.

For once in my life, I’m okay with letting love lose. I’ll forever be a foolish romantic, chasing the high, though no high will ever compete with the one I felt with him. It ends here.

I gained something I never thought I’d have again, faith. It’s contradictory to love in the way it doesn’t destroy you.