Our hands collided, and I dropped a few bills on the table.
“Sorry.” He quickly scooped up the bills. “Let me pay…”
Lying on top of a twenty-dollar bill was Spud, the little origami dog Ryder had folded and left beside my pillow. He held it in his palm for a long moment, staring at it.
“Oh,” he said, the word holding far too many emotions. “Delaney, I—”
Not now. Not here. No.
I plucked the little dog out of his hand. His eyes followed it, watched as I carefully tucked Spud back inside my wallet, but in a safer place behind my driver’s license.
He opened his mouth, shut it, words lost to what seemed like regret.
Join the club.
I leaned forward and kissed him. It was fleeting, just a brush of my lips against his. I felt the surprise in his inhalation, the tightening of his body, his mouth opening on the shared breath that stuttered between us before I pulled away.
“Goodbye, Ryder.”
His hand, just his fingertips, stretched as if to reach me, as if to hold on to a quickly fading ghost.
But I kept moving, turning, walking. Until sunlight surrounded me and the breeze dried tears I refused to let fall.
I got in the Jeep and started the engine.
“You can do this, Delaney,” I told myself. “You can move forward without him.”
Liar, my heart whispered.
“He is sorry, you know.”
I jerked at the voice. Herri—or rather, the goddess Hera—sat in the passenger side of my Jeep. She still looked much like her mortal self. But instead of wearing a tank top and jeans, she wore a beautiful flowing gown that seemed to catch whole galaxies in the folds, like peacock feathers glittering.
“Who’s sorry?”
“Ryder.”
“Is that why you’re here? To tell me he feels bad about breaking up with me while I was lying in a hospital bed? I wasn’t the one who wanted to end this.”
She smiled, and it was filled with both sorrow and warmth. “And now what is it that you want?”
I rubbed at my forehead, trying to corral ragged thoughts. “He’s made it clear where he stands. I just need some time to get over it.”
“The heart never abandons its desire.”
Really not helpful, since my heart’s desire doesn’t desire me back.
She gently placed her hand on my hand. I could feel the warmth of her skin, but also a sort of electric vibration, her power poised and vibrant beneath her touch.
“There is more to Ryder than you know, Delaney.” Her bronze gaze burned and held me captive. Even with the Reed immunity, I felt pinned beneath the presence of her power.
I wanted to ask her what she knew. Wanted to ask her why Ryder had left me before we’d had a chance to find each other.
Wanted to ask her if maybe there was still something there, in his heart that echoed my need for him. But I could not speak.
“There is more to the push and pull of power amongst the hungry. Ordinary will play its role in the days to come. You will play your role. I do not wish to see you or your family falter.”
“Falter?”
