“Nope. Merrick and Tamryn were unable to have children, which was why they fell so hard for me when they came upon me. It’s just as well, I wouldn’t have played nice with any other children anyway.”
“You know, Idoget that sense about you,” Avion replied, flashing me a smile.
And something aboutthatsmile shattered me down to my toes. Maybe it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, or that was the first time I had viewed her smile with my blinders completely down, but something shifted in me. It felt cosmic and at the same time minuscule, like the careful tuning of a single gear in a watch that drastically alters the way the entire device functioned. I knew Avion was different when I met her, but I didn’t anticipate that she’d strike such a strange place inside of me.
The feelings were new, and above all, horrifying.
“Um,” I started, desperate to change the subject. “I have something for you.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Really?”
“Yeah…” I picked up the manilla file from next to me and stood up from my chair so I could walk it down the table’s length to her. It felt kind of silly sitting at the opposite ends of such a massive table. I’d be getting a smaller one for subsequent meals. “Here you go.”
She took the file with a curious smile. “Thank you.”
I walked back down to my seat, and when I turned to sink into it, I noticed she was just staring back at me with it in her hands. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Should I look inside?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. Yeah. Sorry.” I’d never apologized to anyone before Avion, and it felt like I’d said it to her a thousand times already.
She leaned back in her chair and opened the file, and I watched as her eyes started to scan the information inside. A neutral expression slowly twisted into an emotional one, and eventually, her eyes started to fill with tears. When she flipped to the page that had the picture of her mother, she laughed and cried at the same time.
“Mama…” she said quietly, then she looked up at me. “I’m sorry. Can I excuse myself?”
“Of course,” I replied.
She rapidly slid her chair backward before shooting up and leaving the dining room in a rush. It made me sad to see tears on Avion’s face. She was so stunning that I felt like she should never be reduced to tears. Rather, she was such a stunning spirit that I felt like it was wrong to hurt her. Maybe giving her the information was a mistake?
About fifteen minutes had passed and Avion still hadn’t returned, and I wondered if I should go after her. She still didn’t really know her way around the house, so I got up and walked out of the dining room, wondering which way she went. I started just wandering up and down the hallways, almost beginning to think that she actually did find her way to the elevator or stairs on her own when I heard a light, gentle sniffling. I followed the sound until I turned one of the corners and saw her sitting on the ground with her head on her knees.
Walking over and sliding down the wall to sit across from her, I didn’t say anything, just sat with her until she was ready to talk. I thought that maybe she didn’t realize that I’d approached her at all, but then her voice muffled out from against her knees.
“Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” I asked.
Her head came up and the sight of her red eyes really hurt me. “I ran out when dinner was going so well.”
I gave her a smile. “It was, but if you needed a minute, that’s fine.”
“I was gonna come back, but…” She slapped her head down. “I got lost.” I couldn’t keep myself from laughing, but then her head shot up. Clearing my throat, I buried the laugh, but then she cracked a smile and started laughing as well. “Why is this place like this?”
“I did it by design,” I said. “If anyone tried to break in, I wanted to make it so very difficult to find me or anything else of importance.”
Her eyes registered a beat of recognition. “Oh. That makes sense.”
I pointed up at the wall sconces. “The sconces are marked. They point to the nearest exit. Once you get the hang of it, you can figure out where you need to go whether it’s walking towards or away from the exit.”
She looked up and studied the sconces and then her shoulders relaxed like she was defeated. “Wow. That’s so smart. I did not notice that.”
“Fortunately, the third floor is now marked with arrows on the wall as well,” I said.
She groaned. “Those only lead to your bedroom.”
I nodded my head. “Could still be useful.” Avion chuckled, but then she looked up into my eyes and I retreated quickly. “Sorry. That’s not funny.” She set her head on her lap and looked at me as if she was trying to figure something out. Her gaze focused on me with no explanation was borderline overwhelming. “What?”
“Nothing,” she replied.
