Fallen Rogue by Amy Rench Page B

had no idea what to say. It’s okay? No, it wasn’t. He’d betrayed her. He’d just admitted it. As alone as she was now, that wasn’t something she could just forget. She took the last bite of her toast and set her plate down on the wooden table with a slight thud.
    “You said to trust you,” she said softly, squinting with the aching thought. “Then you turned on me.” She watched him wince ever so slightly.
    “You should have told me,” he countered.
    “It shouldn’t have mattered,” she shot back. Hewhipped his glance away from her. Trust was trust. Wasn’t it?
    “You still should have told me,” Rome persisted, turning back to her. A puzzled look crossed his face. “How can you do…that?” He wiggled his hand around, obviously referring to her power.
    “I don’t really know,” Harper answered, leaning back into the chair. Its tiny foam balls wrapped around her nicely, as if she were sitting in a cloud. “Bobby left me a syringe of something. Some kind of serum.” She could practically hear her brother’s last words. “The men who killed Bobby tracked me down. We fought and the serum was injected into my arm by accident.” She could practically feel the intense fire racing in her head to consume her mind. See the fierce energy surge through the air toward the men. Killing them in less than an instant. “Right after that, I felt this power run through my body. It made my mind burn. And I killed them. Just like you saw at Bobby’s house.”
    She kept her weary gaze on him, hoping he didn’t see her as some monster. She still hated that he’d betrayed her trust, but she didn’t hate him. In fact, she rather liked him. More than she knew she should. But she wasn’t sure she could ever trust him again.
    “I never believed you were dangerous,” Rome finally said after a moment of soaking in her words. He clenched his jaw, a sign of tension she was coming to recognize. “Then I saw what you could do. You tore up that room. Killed those men. With some kind of semi-invisible force that came from your body.” He shook his head slowly and faced her once more. “That’s dangerous.”
    Tightening her lips, she vividly recalled the scene in Bobby’s house. The bright sunlight filtering in. The guns pointed at her and Rome. The thought of beingcaptured. She hadn’t meant to kill anyone. It made her sick to her stomach. She’d never even thought she was capable of something like that. Heck, every fish she’d ever caught, she’d set free.
    But in that moment, just like at the Barracks, she’d come to know what was truly meant by “life or death.” It was them or the bad guys.
    She’d chosen them.
    And he’d chosen the bad guys.
    Harper suddenly realized she shouldn’t be there. With him. The little respite he’d given her was now over.
    “You’re right.” She shook her head sadly. “I am dangerous.” She looked around the room, searching for answers. This afternoon, she was able to control the power somewhat. That was good, right? She wouldn’t need his help now. But somehow that made her feel more alone than she ever had in the cold, dark cell. More than his betrayal had. She swung her gaze to meet his unreadable one. “I guess I’d better go. Thank you for helping me escape.” She began to wiggle out of the low chair.
    “Harper, wait.” Rome rested his warm hand on her wrist, halting her antsy movement. “I can’t change what I did. I was just doing my job. My duty. You need to understand that.” He lifted his hand away from her and shook his head. “But you also need to understand this: There’s something about you. Something…I don’t know. I just know that I want to help you. Help you get your answers.” His imploring look captured her completely. He genuinely seemed out of his element. Well, they were on even ground there. “I know I said that before, but you weren’t telling me everything. Now I know what you were hiding. And I want to help you. Now more than