“I’m going to go see her.”
“You do that. I’ll be here. Drinking. As always.”
I stood outside Fallon’s balcony. The sea winds smacked my skin and raked through my hair. The night was black, and this time, it was me under the light of the stars and her sleeping soundlessly in the dark. Strong winds beat against the curtain. It jumped and turned as if it had come from the bazaar of bad dreams. A fire blazed in the fireplace of her bedroom, yet the balcony doors were wide open as if she were waiting for me.
I stood there for a long time, watching the girl who looked as if she had the moon tucked under her heart and the galaxy woven into her soul. Her white hair spilled over her pillow, pale skin against the white sheets. We didn’t make sense. We were so different, but still all the same. Nightmares and dreamscapes—the epitome of us.
My heart slammed inside my chest as I stepped closer into the dark, where she was lying on her stomach, tangled under thin sheets. The heat from the fire had thawed her icy flesh into dew drops over her skin. Her top had risen, revealing two dimples that kissed the base of her spine. There were still so many places I hadn’t explored, and there would never be enough nights for us.
The bed frame creaked when I sat at the edge. Fallon’s white cat stared at me from the dark corner of the room with mismatched eyes, threatening me. I narrowed my eyes. It scurried out onto the balcony.
My tightened fist reached out until my knuckles grazed the edge of her jawline. A feather-light breath escaped through her lips. She blinked up at me with eyes the palest of blue hues, and the flames did a waltz across her confused expression.
“Julian,” she whispered, her head falling into my touch. The small gesture had my ribcage breaking apart, leaving my heart exposed. “It was you,” she closed her eyes, “I know it was you. You jumped off the cliff and saved me. I thought you were afraid of heights?”
“I suppose I found something else I was more afraid of,” I admitted, feeling nervous all of a sudden. “Fallon, I have to tell you something.”I no longer want to be apart from you, but I must because my curse may kill you. And I’m trying to undo it because I’ve never wanted anything more. But all these words caught in my throat when Fallon sat up from the bed and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“You could have just told me you weren’t allowed near me,” she said into my ear.
My eyes widened at first. Then they closed, and I expelled a relieved breath. Fallon knew. And she buried her face into my neck. I held the back of her head, keeping her here with me. She held on to me. I held on to her.
Seconds turned into minutes, and I didn’t know how long she was in my arms because it didn’t matter. Fallon Grimaldi was in my arms, and it turned me into a man who wasn’t cursed or damned. It just turned me into a man, the only thing I ever wanted to be. The thought had me clutching her tighter, pressing her entire body against me. I inhaled her scent of unicorns and folklore and buttermilk confetti cake topped withwhat if’s.
What if she had died. What if I wasn’t there.
What if I had to go on living in Weeping Hollow without the only freak who happened to make my dark soul sing?
My eyes screwed shut.
Fallon had once said that perhaps I was afraid of falling, but I knew she was wrong. It was true, I had a love simmering inside me. This thing I felt for her, perhaps it was strong enough to tear apart a coven, a town. Maybe even bring a Heathen to its knees. But I had a darkness inside me too. It became a passenger inside my skin, moving leisurely within me like an evil spirit. And if I could not indulge in the one, I’d be overtaken by the other.
I took off my coat, draped it over the chair in the corner, and sat at the edge of the bed, facing her. “The audacity, jumping off the cliff. You know I’m afraid of heights.”
Heat flushed her pale cheeks. She lowered her eyes. “I had to.”
I brushed her hair from her face to see her better. “You thought that jumping would help Benny?” I raised a brow, and Fallon nodded. “What if I wasn’t there? It didn’t look like anyone from the Eastside was going in after you. Aren’t they supposed to be your friends? Your coven?” I winced at the thought, hoping she’d correct me because I knew what Sacred Sea’s initiation entailed.Please, tell me I’m wrong.
Fallon snapped her jaw shut, and her eyes bounced between mine.
Desperate, I tried again. “Do you belong to Sacred Sea, Fallon?”
“No,” she said, and relief untangled from around my spine. “Why were you even there? What were you doing at the cliffs?”
I thought for a long moment, searching for the answers.
I found none which was worrying. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Did it happen again? Are you okay?” She looked up at me under long lashes and a worry expression marring her features.
She cares for me?And if I hadn’t known before, I knew at that moment—I would have done anything for her. If she asked for my heart, I’d rip it out of my chest. If she wanted a choice, I’d give her the freedom, even if it meant not choosing me. I’d do anything. It was terrifying.
“I’m okay,” I told her, my fingers strumming against my pant leg. “Tonight, can I just lay with you awhile?”
Fallon nodded, a little nervous. I left my pants on, kicked off my shoes, and sank in the bed beside her.
Facing one another, Fallon intertwined her hand with mine between us and our foreheads connected.
“Is this real?” she asked.
