“I think she would make an exception for me. It is your birthday, after all.” A sad smile graced her lips, and I forgot to breathe. My hands reached out and pulled her body close. She trembled in my arms, and her shoulder shook once. She wasn’t OK. But she was here, and I knew how much strength she had to pull from the depths to show up and fake that all was OK.
“I love you.” I didn’t know if the words would ease her pain, but I wanted to say them. We only had this moment. Nothing beyond was guaranteed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my chest. My fingers lifted her chin gently, allowing me the honor to look into her eyes to see the emotions swirling in their depths.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Now kiss me like you missed me, and let’s dance.” I smiled when she rolled her eyes but stood on her toes to reach my lips. Her kiss was like dying and living at the same time. She slowly pulled away and grabbed my free hand to hold out in a waltz position.
“I hope you know how to do this kind of dance because I have no clue,” she admitted and I smiled again. I knew, since living in this house with ghosts who only knew how to dance the waltz had taught me the steps. Instead of telling her just how much experience I had in this department, I showed her.
I led her around the room, and she followed like we’d been doing this dance for centuries together. People stopped dancing as we passed by. The laughter and mutterings silenced and except for us, the rest of the room went dark. Nothing and no one existed in this moment but us, captivated in each other. The world simply melted away, along with the crowd, to give us space while we had our moment.
I may have been leading us in this dance, but I’d follow here wherever she went. I didn’t care if that made me whipped, or a chained man. This woman held my heart and soul in her delicate hands, and I couldn’t think of a better protector for it than her. When the orchestra ended the song and started another, we kept going. The lights grew brighter, and the crowd around us danced with laughter once more.
With Selene beside me, my confidence grew. Tonight would go as planned, and this nightmare would end without any lives being lost.
Another smile off to the side caught my attention and the warmth that had settled over me turned to ice. Rudy watched Selene and I dance with a smile on his face, too, only his expression hinted that everything was going according tohisplan, which frightened me so much I wanted to steal Selene and run away right now.
But her friends in the Hero Society . . . I couldn’t lose them, either.
It felt like a noose was already tightening around my neck, and all I could do was feel the squeeze on my life.
Chapter Thirty- Four
Selene
“Any news of where our friends are being held?” I managed to whisper to Jude, once we stopped dancing, and he walked us over toward the large buffet table.
“Not quite. He leaves the screen up with the video feed from that location. I don’t believe it’s far from here, and it looks like a warehouse of sorts.” He leaned in close, his mouth against my neck as he spoke, so it seemed like he was nuzzling me instead of conversing about hostages. My hand reached up to his shoulder instinctively, fingers digging into his ringleader jacket.
“They are alive, though, I see them move a lot. Lilith talks to the ghosts and distracts them while the others talk.” His words gave me hope. I still couldn’t think about what would happen if we failed tonight.
“Do you have a plan?” I half-whispered, half-moaned as his lips caressed my skin, his tongue flicking the sensitive flesh.
“I do.” He breathed and goosebumps rose on my skin.
“Me, too. Should we talk about it?” We needed to be a united front going against Rudy, but I doubted we’d get a chance to truly be alone. Even if a ghost was by us, listening, they wouldn’t have heard anything they didn’t already know.
“We can’t.” He confirmed what I had been thinking. Unease grew in my belly with the thought of two plans that could conflict or easily go wrong.
“Whoever’s plan wins buys breakfast tomorrow?” Jude pulled back with a hopeful smile. I shook my head. I was about to reply with a smart-ass comment, when a tiger head nudged my free hand and Joslyn interrupted us.
“I need to borrow Selene. She’ll be back for the show.” She looked at Jude, and he must have seen something in her eyes that said she could be trusted. His hands released their grip on my body as he took a step back so I could follow the woman.
“I’ll see you soon,” he promised, and I nodded. The gnawing of unease grew into a knot that tightened my gut, and I knew . . . somehow I just knew . . . that when we saw each other again, there would not be emotions of joy.
Joslyn gripped my hand gingerly and led me away. I watched Jude for as long as I could without walking into anyone, afraid I wouldn’t see him again.
“Don’t fear, Selene, love always wins,” Joslyn whispered to me, her voice so soft it seemed to carry with the music in the air.
Love always wins. A statement I needed to have faith in. It was something Phillip would say, especially when he knew what future was best. He couldn’t offer those words to me now, but I could still have faith in a future where Jude and I were together. A future where my friends were safe and back to making the world a better place.
I’d seen the ghost that didn’t belong here walking around, talking to other ghosts about what would happen after tonight. Rudy was going to break the gates to the afterlife according to the gossip between the wandering souls. I hoped it was only chatter and not laced with truth. We strolled up the stairs, then Joslyn stopped us before a door to a bedroom.
“You are safe in here and can speak freely.” She looked down the hall to where a corpse with decomposed flesh hung from its bones like a shredded dog’s toy. I opened the door to an immaculate room with a four-poster bed, hand-carved furniture, and a painting of a woman in a Victorian-style wedding dress standing next to a man in a suit. She looked so familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint where I’d seen her.
“It hasn’t been that long since you’ve seen me. Surely you wouldn’t have forgotten a face like mine.” Madam Tully’s voice chuckled near the window on the left of the painting. The knot in my stomach unraveled and instantly I released my tense posture.
“Thank you, Joslyn.” The witch-ghost smiled at my guide, who closed the door as she turned to walk down the dimmed hall.
