What does that mean? Eva's brows narrowed as she looked at all the faces around her and saw the same confusion that she felt deep inside.
Theo was the first one to speak up and break the silence. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, lifting his leg and laying it across his other one.
Kai picked up his fork, tearing off a small piece of the turkey and popping it in his mouth as Davina opened her mouth to explain.
"I sense something from her. It's as if something is locked inside her and struggling to break free. Why're you restricting it?" her eyes glinted in her direction, and Eva once again felt everyone's attention on her.
"What powers is she talking about?"
Eva felt his voice touch her in forbidden places as she licked her now parched lips and gripped the edge of the couch to stable her hands.
"Look at me."
Breathing out, she glanced sideways and met his gaze. There was something in his inky eyes that made her chest constrict and made her want to blurt out everything that she had been hiding from him all these days.
Gulping, she started to narrate her point of view since the day she had been locked up. "It started when Ven— no, Diana came and told me about my family's death. I felt something bubbling inside me and when I screamed, I saw her being thrown back by an invisible force. The wall cracked if I remember correctly and after that, she didn't provoke me in that way ever again."
Daring a glance, Eva instantly looked down at her lap when she saw the anger in his eyes and the dismay that she hadn't told him all this earlier.
"Was there another time when it happened?" came Gwen's soft voice, and Eva raised her head to pass her a small but grateful smile.
"The second time was when the mirror and sink in my bathroom broke after I arrived in the house. The third was before I came here, I ended up burning the wooden floors just outside my room. Daphne and Fiona were there to see that. That's all."
"Why didn't I get to know this sooner?" his voice held restrained fury, but his clenched fists made it obvious that he was furious toward her. She didn't know what she could do to calm him down.
"I didn't want you to worry unnecessarily," she spoke and watched as his eyes darkened, and his eyelids closed as he breathed out and opened them back again.
"Unnecessarily? Not even a hair on your body is unnecessary to me, how the hell could you think that I wouldn't be worried?" Theo gritted out and Eva swallowed, trying to make him see how needless it was to worry.
"I just want to control these— powers now. I want to learn how to get stronger. And I want revenge. Worrying won't make things easier."
"She's right in that," Gwen said slowly, her anxious eyes darting between the two people sitting on the couch. Kai and Sebastian nodded simultaneously in agreement while Davina only picked up her glass and took another sip, her lips painted a bright shade of red from the blood which Eva still didn't know why she was drinking.
Wanting to switch from this depressing mood and topic, Eva shrugged and looked toward Gwen. "So... how did you all meet?"
"Now that's an interesting story." Kai chuckled, his dark orbs twinkling as he ran a hand through his hair, and that flash of sadness crossed his eyes once again as he looked at Theo.
"I picked them up from the street. The end," Theodore spoke and when Kai let out an exaggerated scoff and slapped Sebastian in the back, she saw Theo's lips curve upward as he saw his friends bickering amongst each other.
"Why haven't you met for almost a decade?" Eva suddenly asked, and silence reigned supreme once again as Theo's shocked eyes met hers.
"When did you hear that— "
"He's been saying he was busy putting off all the suspicion while ruling Xandria." Kai interrupted and Theo cast him a glare. "But if you know what he's been up to and hiding, feel free to tell us all. None of us know, not even Gwen."
Gwen glanced at her expectantly, and even Davina set her glass down to listen. "He hasn't told me, so I don't know," Eva spoke and even though Gwen passed her a small assuring grin, the disappointment on each of their faces was clear. Theodore only smiled, though that was filled with unknown emotions that she couldn't understand yet.
"I was from a poor family back when the previous King was still alive," Kai stated, and Eva fixed her attention on him. "The rest is the typical sad story of a poor man who wanted to fulfill his dreams. My abusive father murdered my mother and then killed himself. I somehow managed to escape and enlisted in the King's army. Several years later, I ended up meeting these two, and we became friendly bastards together. Seb can tell his own tale if he wants to, and so can Gwen, mine's finished."
Saying all that, he picked up the last piece of vegetable from his plate. The stare that he gave her conveyed that he understood how she felt. They both had started off from a poor family, and now they were here. The only problem was that he had worked sweat and blood to reach this position and all she had was mere luck which could drain away anytime.
"Don't say that it's typical—" Theo began, but Kai once again cut his words.
"You have no right to say that to me when you weren't here for almost a decade and a half." his voice was calm, but Eva detected rage in his orbs.
Finally setting her now empty glass down, Davina's sharp eyes met hers, and she tilted her head.
"Why don't you tell us your story first before we decide to trust you?"