Then they moved to the next house, and Esag's jaw clenched.
It was similar to Tamira and Elias's. Two bedrooms. A couple's house.
"Tony and Tula," Ingrid said warmly. "Here we are."
Amanda was already bounding up the steps. "I ordered clothes for Tony, too. And the kitchen is fully stocked, so you can play house."
She turned at the doorway, grinning. "Does either of you know how to cook?"
"I used to be a great cook," Tony said with no small amount of pride in his voice. "It's been a while, but I bet I still remember how to make a mean pasta carbonara. I'm looking forward to wowing Tula with my Italian cuisine."
He glanced at Tula, hope evident in his expression.
Tula said nothing.
She just stood there, looking at the house, her hand on her belly, her face carefully blank.
Esag's heart sank into his stomach.
She wasn't correcting the assumption. Wasn't saying that she and Tony were no longer together. Wasn't asking for separate housing.
It seemed that she'd decided to give Tony another chance. She'd said on the plane that she and Tony needed to end things, but apparently she'd changed her mind. Maybe the possibility that Tony could be a Dormant had influenced her decision to give him another chance. Maybe she'd decided that giving their child a two-parent home was worth sacrificing her own chance at finding a truelove mate.
Besides, why did he care?
What was this sudden interest in Tula?
Did he want her because he needed her to forgive him, and he was a glutton for punishment? Or was this thing that had sprouted inside of him after sharing dreams and visions with her real?
"Tula?" Wonder said. "Do you want to look inside?"
"Yes." Tula smiled, but it looked forced. "Of course. Thank you, Ingrid. It's lovely."
She walked up the steps, and Tony followed.
Esag stood on the path, watching the door close behind them, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut.
The Fates were playing games with him, probably to punish him for all his failures.
He'd been so sure that the dreams and visions had meant something. He'd even caught Tula looking at him, not with hatred or resentment over his past sins, nor as one would look at an old acquaintance, but the way a woman looked at a man she found attractive.
But maybe he had misinterpreted it. Perhaps he had seen what he'd hoped to see. Maybe it had just been proximity and loneliness and the strange circumstance of being physically linked during a crisis.
"Esag?" Wonder's voice pulled him from his spiral. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he lied. "Just tired from the long flight. I didn't get any sleep."
"You should go home and get some rest."
"Yeah." He forced himself to turn away from the house where Tula and Tony were probably exploring their new shared bedroom, their new shared kitchen, their new shared life. "I'll see you later."
He walked back toward the original portion of the village where he shared a house with Roven and Davuh, his mind replaying every interaction he'd had with Tula, and every moment he thought had meant something.
The dreams. The visions. The conversation on the plane.
Maybe he just needed to let her go and stop building castles in the air out of a few visions and wishful thinking.
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