Her eyes widen. “Like, you spend one night with one and then swap?”
I clear my throat again, unable to meet her gaze because that would be easier to explain. “Umm, something like that.”
I decide she doesn’t need any more detail, but if she sees the bedroom with the huge bed, or just after she spends the nighthere and realizes we’re all together, she’s going to figure it out quickly enough.
“But Ophelia, what about saving yourself for marriage? And how will you pick which of them to marry and start your family with?”
“I’d marry all three of them, if I could.”
She gasps. “That’s an abomination in the eyes of God and the sanctity of marriage!”
I shake my head. “That’s only what the Prophet has taught you. In the real world, marriage comes in lots of different forms. There are other relationships like ours right here at Verona Falls. One of them even has a child.”
“But-but-how does the child know who their father is?”
“All three men are the child’s father. The genetics part doesn’t matter.”
Daisy has paled even more. “That seems very wrong to me.”
“Surely, the more people a child has who love them the better?”
She doesn’t reply. I know I can’t expect her to understand. I don’t like feeling judged under my own roof, though. It makes me feel like I do when I hear the Prophet’s words shaming me in my head. I also don’t want to argue with her. I haven’t seen this girl for so long, and we were close. I swallow down my upset at her words and try to get things back on track.
“Let me show you the bathroom,” I say, wanting to change the subject.
She gives a tiny nod and follows me out.
I show her where it is and leave her to it. I’m worried about her snooping, but it would be weird for me to linger outside. I return to the living room and find Malachi on the couch. I sink down beside him with a sigh.
“Something is on your mind,” Malachi says softly, leaning in, his shoulder brushing mine. He turns his head, holding my eye intently.
I flash him the tiniest smile. “Everything is on my mind.”
“I wish the girl hadn’t come here if her presence is troubling you so much.”
I shake my head. “No, I’m glad she did. At least now we have a chance to help people, and to put an end to this for good. I don’t think you’ll ever truly understand how brave she’s been by coming here. She’s walked away from her family and out into a world she doesn’t really understand.”
“You did the same thing,” he reminds me.
“It was different for me. I knew there were people waiting for me to come home.”
“She knew there was someone out there, too. That someone was you.”
I lift his hand to my lips, placing a kiss on the backs of his fingers. I pause, turning his black painted fingertips one way then the next. “We need to do something about those nails.”
He gives me a slight frown, as though he expects me to complain about the fact he embraces nail polish and eyeliner, so I allow my smile to widen a little. “You can’t go around with them so chipped.”
He chuckles and leans in and kisses my forehead. “Then you’ll have to paint them for me, if we ever get a minute to fucking relax.”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER 3
Cain
Daisy returnsfrom the bathroom and immediately takes the seat on the other side of Ophelia. I’m kicking myself for not grabbing it sooner so she couldn’t sit there. Yes, maybe it makes me an asshole, but I’d wanted to stake my claim.
After all, Daisy might be from Ophelia’s past, but I knew our Pet long before Daisy ever did.
