Javier nodded gravely.
“Lilith,” I whispered, raising a shaking hand to my forehead. “If he gains power from witches, warlocks, and Santeros, he’s already too strong.” My eyes found Oliver’s. “We don’t just need to evacuate the civilians—we need to evacuate everyone from Cuba before he sucks you all dry.”
Javier scoffed and waved a hand at me. “Who is this girl?”
Oliver stared at me, his expression hard. Angry. Without averting his gaze from me, he muttered, “Thank you, Javier. You’ve been extremely helpful.”
Oliver strode toward the door and held it open for me. I looked at Javier, who raised his eyebrows and shrugged. A sense of foreboding rippled through me as I stepped out of the house, Oliver right behind me.
As soon as the door slammed shut, Oliver grabbed my elbow and turned me to face him. “What is wrong with you?” he hissed.
My curls whipped against my cheek as I yanked my arm free. “Nothing! I’m trying to save you and your coven! You’ll die if you stay here.”
“Even if we could leave the island, running away is not the answer!” Oliver said, his jaw tensing. “Do you think El Diablo will just let us escape?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So staying here as he drains the blood of every person in the country—that’s the answer?”
Oliver took a step toward me. “Fleeing might be your instinct, but it isn’t mine.”
I dropped my arms and straightened, but it did nothing. He still towered over me, making me feel smaller than a mouse. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’ve hidden from danger for so long that it’s second nature for you,” Oliver said. “And now that I know you better, it makes sense. It’s because your parents died.”
Hot anger flushed in my cheeks. “Don’t you dare,” I growled. Something wild and angry slithered in my chest, threatening to burst from me. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Because you won’t open yourself up!” Oliver protested, closing the gap between us until my nose almost touched his throat. “You’ve closed yourself off to everyone around you because you don’t want to lose anyone. You’re afraid your heart won’t survive it again.”
Rage boiled through me. Clenching my teeth, I shook my head at him, taking a step back. “Stop trying to bait me. I don’t want to fight with you, Oliver.”
“That’s exactly the point. You don’t fight, you don’t yell, you don’t get scared—you don’t show anything. You’ve hidden your true self so deeply inside of you that no one gets to see it. I caught a glimpse of it that night in the demon caves. But after that, you closed yourself off again. Everyone else might be fooled by your charming and humorous demeanor, but I know it’s just a mask.”
Shallow breaths tore through me, and I clenched my shaking hands into fists. “Can you blame me?” I said, my voice rising. “I met you, what, two days ago? Am I just supposed to share my deepest desires and fears with you?”
“Of course not!”
“Then what do you want from me?”
“I want you to open up—to show me you feel something.”
“Fine,” I hissed, my nostrils flaring. “You want me to open up? To fight, to argue? Well, how’s this: I think you’re a filthy hypocrite. Talk about closing yourself off—how many people in your beloved little coven know you’re on the Council? That you don’t fully support light magic—you’re neutral!”
Anger flared in his eyes, and his jawline hardened as he clenched his teeth. He pointed a finger at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because I’m on the Council doesn’t mean I don’t support light magic.”
I scoffed. “It doesn’t mean you don’t support dark magic, either. That’s what being on the Council is—an advocate for both sides. But your Cuban family here doesn’t know a thing about that, do they?”
Oliver jabbed a finger at me, his eyes flashing. “You have no idea what I’ve done for my coven.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but my gaze drifted to the ripped, bloody fabric of his sleeve. My eyes narrowed. “You could’ve gone to fight in the siege, couldn’t you? But you had an ulterior motive for staying. Not because of your precious coven.” I jabbed a finger toward the door to Javier’s home. “But because of that. Your inside source.”
Oliver’s eyes widened, and red indignation bloomed across his cheeks. “No, it’s not like that—”
“Does your coven know you’re using them to work with demons on the other side?” I couldn’t stop myself. He’d peeled back my neutral, protective layer—the side I showed people to mask myself. To hide my secrets. But with that part of me exposed now, something raw and angry festered, lashing out toward Oliver.
Oliver turned away from me, arms shaking, and ran a hand through his hair. The furious motion left a few jagged chunks of his hair standing in different directions. When he turned back to face me, his eyes were wild with anger and something else. Something like regret.
He opened his mouth, his face contorted with fury, and I knew he was about to yell at me. Then his mouth closed and he ran two hands through his hair again, giving him a bedhead look that was infuriatingly attractive. He paced a few steps away from me, then back toward me, then away from me again. His fingers clenched into fists and he groaned loudly.
He blew air through his teeth and faced me again. The anger in his face melted into sorrow, and his brows knit together. “Desi, you’re the only one who would understand this,” he said. “I have to do it this way. I have to be alone. Just like you. I keep everyone at a distance to protect myself. And to protect them.”
“Everyone except Elena,” I spat and then instantly regretted it.
Oliver’s eyes widened, and he stepped backward. “Elena?”
A firm lump formed in my throat. I tried to swallow it down, but it lingered, choking me. I couldn’t take
