Fractured Fate

Four: No, Says The Girl To The Monster

The next morning, Sophie sat in the kitchen, a slice of toast in front of her. She stared down at the striations on the wood table, biting her lip.

She'd chickened out yesterday. Her intent was to wait up for Cael and ask him then, but the hawk shifter had instead stumbled into the aerie and everything went out the window.

She tapped her finger on a natural grove in the wood next to her plate. Exhaustion pulled at her shoulders and eyes. Sleep had been nothing but an idea last night. Instead, she'd tossed and turned, her mind throwing terrible images to her. Images of her sister bruised, broken, and worse, all the while she rested comfortably in a warm bed.

Sophie's hand fisted. Her throat ached something fierce as she went back to that morning.

***

Sophie poured a cup of coffee into her chipped, blue coffee mug. It was her favorite—at one point she'd thought it was a good luck charm. She'd drank tea in his mug the day she'd found out she got into the Veron University fast-track medical program. Had hot chocolate in this mug before finding money in her jeans pocket. Had water in this mug before she passed her first round of interviews at Veron Memorial Hospital.

Later, she would realize there were no such things as good luck charms, only fortunate coincidences.

Sophie brought the cup to her lips and sipped the coffee. She frowned as she swallowed the bitter liquid and shuttered. Gross. How did her sister drink this? It tasted like tar.

"You look like you just worked a double shift." Katarina saddled up next to her, bumping her shoulder against Sophie's. Her sister grinned down at her.

Katarina had always been tall, but then, Sophie had always been short—at least a head shorter than Katarina. When Sophie was a teen, she hated the way she faded into the background when Katarina was around—everyone always loved her beautiful, blonde, model-type sister. As she grew up, she instead saw the way people assumed and stereotyped Katarina, putting her down for her smarts or assuming she was nothing but an airhead. With how hard her sister worked, it felt like a spit in the face. Katarina stood out for her beauty and height, and instead people picked on her.

"How do you drink this stuff?" Sophie mumbled down to her cup.

Katarina raised a blonde brow. "I usually use cream and sugar. Not just drink it black. Have you ever had a cup of coffee?" Her sister teased.

"I thought it might help," Sophie mumbled. She was so tired. Every movement felt like climbing a mountain.

"You said no to that guy last night?" Katarina asked as she pulled out her own mug—one with a cartoon character that Sophie used to watch as a child.

"Mhm." Sophie dumped her coffee in the sink. Caffeine or not, she couldn't handle the taste. Better to make a cup of tea instead.

"And?"

Sophie glanced at her sister. "It went okay. He accepted my respectful decline for the job."

Something about his simple acceptance rubbed her the wrong way. She was about to finish her residency and hadn't yet locked in on the job the hospital had offered her. She wanted to look around a bit more at her options before deciding. Then Bartholomew Reison reached out to her on the all-in-one employer hiring platform she'd signed up for just last week. He owned a private facility and was looking for a general practitioner to help with patient overflow. She'd entertained the idea after seeing the long list of benefits and the salary. The salary alone was enough to finally help her get some of her student loans paid, and help her get out of this ratty apartment in Veron City.