Everything was falling apart. It was all falling apart, and so quickly. She closed her eye, bowed her head. Her whole body was quaking. She had [i]just[/i] found a family, after sixteen years of a [i]fake[/i] one. Sixteen [i]goddamn years[/i]. And now because of the [i]board[/i], and [i]Helburke[/i], and [i]Eusero,[/i] and ESPECIALLY [i]Casoban,[/i] that family was falling apart before it could even really form. She was [i]not[/i] going to be [i]thrown away.[/i]

Besca's voice reached her, and her head jerked up without warning, staring at the door where Dahlia'd just left.

No. No. [i]NO. [b]ABSOLUTELY NOT.[/b][/i] 

Her own shaking was starting to settle, and her chattering teeth finally stilled. The fear, the terror, was alloying with something else, something that turned her stronger. Her blood no longer ran cold. No. It was [i]boiling[/i]. Her teeth stopped chattering because they were clenched so tightly together the jaw creaked. Her hands no longer clawed at her arms, balled as they were into tight white-knuckled fists. 

It was an unfamiliar sensation to her, half-remembered and only barely at that. A handful of brilliant red blooms in the endless night sky. But at that moment—with all this—everything falling apart—[b]her sister and Besca suddenly at each other's throats[/b]—it felt [i]so very right.[/i]

Quinnlash was still afraid.

But she was also [i]furious.[/i]

She shot up, pacing back and forth with a sudden blaze of seething energy. Besca didn't deserve this. Dahlia didn't deserve this. None of them deserved this...and [i]she[/i] didn't deserve this. She'd run through [i]hell on earth[/i] a [i]month[/i] ago and come out on the other side. She [i]refused[/i] to let [i]this[/i] rip her away from them, and she refused to let them fall apart over this before it even [i]happened![/i] A growl built in the back of her throat as she reached into her pocket and yanked out her phone. Three contacts listed on the screen. She tapped on [i]St. Senn.[/i]

She answered on the second ring, and Quinn [i]exploded.[/i]

[i]"[color=FFE63D]Get the [b]fuck[/b] back up here [b]RIGHT GODDAMN NOW![/b][/color]"[/i]

She hung up, then slapped it down on the table, a fierce and [i]piercing[/i] eye like that of a bird of prey looking straight at Besca. Her voice was a snarl, bit out through clenched teeth. She had NOT come this far, through [i]this much[/i], to die to something like [i][b]THIS.[/b][/i]

[i]"[color=FFE63D]How long have we got.[/color]"[/i]