I realized there had to be something wrong with me.
A man has never consumed me.
When Viola left the room to handle another matter, the four of us exhaled in relief.
“She just loves to get on your case,” Ivy said to Camora.
Camora nodded. “Always. And it’s only getting worse. She expects me to be something or someone else. But right now, she’s just excited about the wedding.” Camora continued, “Cyrus is herbaby; apparently, there’s nothing more special than watching your firstborn marry. Plus, it’s a distraction from what’s happening in town.”
I glanced at Ivy and wondered if she also thought of Mom at that moment and how Mom wasn’t here to plan our weddings. If she wished Mom was here at all.I envisioned the old Mom. The one whose eyes lit up when Fable took her first steps. The one who’d baked a cake for Ivy when she finally learned to swim. The one who’d cried as we clung to each other on my first day at the academy. I’d never envisioned my wedding before, but at this moment, I was, and she was sitting in the front row with sea glass in her eyes.
Soon, my heart reminded me.
The date to bring her back was quickly approaching. Only a month away. As cold-hearted as it was, the only way to survive was to keep moving. Lingering was Mom’s and Stone’s mistake. Those who stopped to look over their shoulder were the ones who froze.
“Hopefully, after the wedding, your mom will come around,” Fable chimed in.
Camora’s deadpan glare fell over her. “Doubt it.” She snuck a cracker from the platter and shoved it into her mouth. “But I want to know what’s going on with you, Adora. Why did you lock yourself in the bedroom this entire week? My mother was losing her mind. You should have heard her at dinner last night.”
Ivy’s eyes grew wide, and her head swung toward me. “You have? Why?”
“I know that look. Don’t give me that look.” I perked in my chair so it seemed I had nothing to hide. “I was behind. I had to finish two more dresses.”
Fable laid her hand gently on my arm. “If there is something going on, you can tell us.”
Was it written all over my face? “There’s nothing going on.”
Ivy sat back in her chair with a pointed chin. “Yeah, you keep saying that, but I just don’t believe you.”
“Tell me what’s going on in town.” Anything to steer the conversation away from me. “Any news about the Shadows?”What I really meant was, did the Heathens return from Bone Island with a white-haired stranger? Has news spread about this traveler, and is he locked up in the cell? Did he tell everyone about a woman named Circe?
Nothing was reported in the newspaper, and I’d locked myself in my room without a chance to find out.
Ivy’s brows were bunched together. She recognized my strange behavior no matter how hard I tried to act aloof.
“Nothing new,” she said with suspicion.
“Really?” I asked. Ivy scanned my face, and I cleared my throat. “What a shame.”
Fable and Ivyleft after dinner.
A design idea had sparked during the day’s events. I wanted to go back to my bedroom to get started on it, but before my feet could climb the stairs, Cyrus called my name.
I fell back and turned to see him standing under the archway.
“The engagement will be announced in one week,” he said.
My spine softened. “I know.”
“I can’t help but think you’re avoiding me.” He touched his mouth, brushing his thumb over his bottom lip as he always did when he was nervous or in deep thought. “Adora, is there someone else?”
“No.” The lie fell out of me at the same time my fingers fell from the staircase railing. “It’s been hard.”
I hadn’t been fair to him, and I should feel guilty about it. The truth was, if it weren’t for the Heathens sailing to Bone Island, I would have kept seeing Stone.
Being without Stone was misery. There was no other name for it.
I could pretend all was okay, but no days had been colder than the ones spent without him. I could fill my soul with lies, but there was no aching so deep as one felt after knowing it could never be again. My rage had grown thick enough to become armor once, but this time it was harder when the steel was made of something unstable. And I feared the shaky wall would fall away at any second, and this misery would spill out for all to see.
