Delario's POV Snippet

Here we have a snippet from Delario's chapter very immediately after the events from a death close to the group that highly affect Tileena (FMC). The friends and siblings are meeting back at Whynix school for witches and werewolves where they will begin their seventh-year of schooling (Age 14).

Delario is talking to his bestfriend, someone who he considers his brother: Hendrick.

I would love to know what you guys think. Any feedback, comments or questions. I would also like to know about how you think their voices come across. I really wanted to stay true to how they would sound as children and as they start growing up where they start sounding more refined/detailed but please let me know if you think I'm way off base. (Delario is one of the more mature characters in their group.)

*Also sorry for any spelling mistakes it's late at night and my brain stopped working an hour ago <3 *

Enjoy!

“Hendrick. I’m not asking. I’m telling you that you will not ask my sister out. You will never date Tileena or be with her in any way other than just a friend. Understood.”

His pissed off sneer means we are almost there. He’s close to understanding the severity of her, of the situation, but not fully.

Not the way Father explained it to me.

“If you become the reason her heart heals, then you take that away from her, it could push her beyond the point of saving. We wouldn’t be able to bring her back. I wouldn’t be enough to bring her back.” It comes out weaker than I intend. Shit. I push the fear deep down because I need to do this for Til. My throat clears while my hand kneads my jaw as if it can somehow force the words to come out easier. “What happened with burning the classroom is nothing compared to what she is capable of. The things I’ve seen her do, you wouldn’t believe man, she’s got this prophecy-”

“To be Queen. Yea, I got that already.” Clearly spending too much time with Til last year, Hen rolls his eyes in a way that makes me want to smack him upside the head but his jaw and crossed arms, locked tight as hell tell me I’d be in for a fight.

I can’t deal with him right now too.

We both need to get it together for her.

“Not just that.” I wait a beat until I have his undivided attention again. “She’s to rule over all the categories of magic, not just the basic elemental shit and whatever other random types pop up. Not Til, she’s supposed to harness every category of magic even the dark magic they don’t teach here. You and I both know how she gets set off by emotional outbursts. If she can’t handle *****'s death Til might-”

“Not just light a building on fire again but create a plague or a tsunami on accident.” He pulls a hand down his face, looking to the south as if he can see phantom waves coming from the ocean as it finally sinks in just how much deadly potential is in that little package we call a sister.

“Yea she might kill us all.” I huff a chuckle but it’s humourless.

“She has that much power?”

“I don’t know if she does yet, but I’m not stupid enough to find out.”

We study the girls surrounding Tileena. The way they talk and move, I note the way she edges her feet away from the girls, retreating a step back every chance she gets, only for Hailey to move closer again and again.

My training kicks in as it always does, and I double-check the four spaces I can get Tileena to in less than ten seconds where she can explode with fire and not burn anyone else. I check the exit pathways, both are clear and there’s no lurkers in the windows or entrances of the hallways nearby.

Head Mistress Zariya gives us a wide birth talking to General Martin more than fifty feet away. My wolf hearing can’t pick up what they are saying and even though werewolf enhancements strengthen as we get older, I’m willing to bet General Martin can’t hear shit from how far away they are.  

Hopefully Hendrick is looking at Tileena the same way I do.

Cautiously.

She’s the most loving and remarkable person I’ve ever met, but I also know she can be the most dangerous when she’s broken, upset or someone she loves is hurt.

The simpering blonde bouncing around Til, trying to cheer her up, oblivious to the danger, doesn’t stand a chance. I see her for what she will be – just another one of the bodies that Tileena leaves behind in her lifetime.

“What do you need from me?” Hen’s firm voice pierces my focus on everyone around my sister. Not taking his eyes off her, it’s evident he likes her and for some reason that feels like a splinter wedging itself into my neck.

He might even love her, but I can’t take that risk with her.

“I need you in my corner. I lost my aunt too and I can’t get through this year without your help.” Damn that feels good to get off my chest. I’m glad Father coached me on exactly what to say. I need to be strong for my younger siblings. I can’t afford to lose my shit just because I’m too tongue tied and bottled up to say what I need.

“Alright I know why I’m so pissy but why is the normally energetic black witch so gloomy today.” Trevor calls to us, pointing at a silently pissed off Tileena who’s giving him a glare as if she’s plotting his death, that makes even Nalrim and Serena quickly back away two feet. Hailey has no common sense and forcefully links her arm through the elbow of Tileena’s crossed arm.

“Interference.” Hendrick and I say in unison as we rush in to diffuse the situation before someone else dies.

“I got her.”

“I got him.” Hen grabs a fistful of Trev’s collar, pulling him away and gesturing with a thumb for Kear to follow, hauling both idiots towards our dorms.

I pull her into the kind of hug I know she loves the most but even though she’s wrapped tightly around me, it’s empty. It feels like a mockery in comparison to her usual happy hugs that warm you up, from the inside out, when she does her little wiggle-squeeze.

Hailey’s somber look of a tight consolation ‘smile’ somehow reassures me that she knows the severity of the situation. She knows Tileena is hurting, she just might not have been told why yet and that’s not my place.

Maybe she’s not as naïve as she lets on but either way, she’s sure as hell, out of her league.