I believed it to be art, and the eyes were a window to the heart.
And the way Adora looked at me five nights before told me she loved me. She’d looked at me with haunting eyes begging to be heard.
Since then, I have lay in bed, unable to sleep through the night, loved and alone.
Well, because ... love, sadly, just wasn’t enough.
In five days, she’d forever belong to someone else.
A tragedy indeed, to finally be loved by someone, and having no choice but to walk away from it. In the end, she was fated to belong to another, and I was doomed to watch from a distance.
Once daylight flooded the bedroom, I dressed into warmer clothes, then descended the stairs as the coffee’s aroma lingered on the first floor of Goody Estate. The other Heathens were already awake and gathered on the back porch, so I made a cup as well when Ocean joined me from the living room.
“Good news,” he said with a smile. “Clarence owns a property on the Westside, and since the previous tenant was killed by the Shadows, he’s letting me move in.”
I leaned against the counter. “Is that right?”
“I haven’t had a home in ... I can’t remember how long. He said he’d get me a job in town, too. I was thinking maybe you can move in with me after all this is over. Who knows,” he grinned, “maybe I’ll get lucky, and I’ll find a lady in town. Then I can carry on the legacy of the keeper.”
“I have faith in you, keeper,” I told him. “But you’ll have to shape up your beard first. You don’t want a pretty face getting lost in there.”
Ocean laughed as I stepped away to join the Heathens outside.
“You look like hell,” Phoenix greeted as I closed the French doors behind me. He was sitting on a porch step, a mug cradled between his knees, and looking out into the dead garden that surrounded the frozen lake. “How’s our future Mrs. Cantini? Did she bring Cyrus along with her for a three-some last night?”
He didn’t know that I hadn’t seen her in five days.
He didn’t know how much I missed her.
“Is this supposed to be funny?” I said into my coffee, looking at him from over the mug. “Feel free to swallow those words back down and choke on them.”
Phoenix grinned. “Wow, she really did a number on you.”
Zephyr chuckled from the rocking chair. He was already dressed in his usual dapper style, which, in this decade, could be seen as vintage, I suppose. Oxford shirt, sweater, tweed trousers, and leather boots. The colors he wore were always muted, calming, unlike Julian, who mainly wore black.
Beck, however, didn’t own a pair of denim that wasn’t stained with dirt, and under his denim jacket, he always wore what they call a hoodie.
Phoenix sported jeans and a leather jacket over sleeveless shirts. Even in winter, as though his body was a furnace. Their styles were so different for a group that was so tightly knitted. The only thing in common were the silver pendants hanging around their necks. And since joining the Heathens, my style has become a mixture of all four of them.
I dropped my shoulder against a column and peered out into the snow-drenched horizon. “She mentioned she’s Cantini’s finneuma—his soulmate.” I tucked my un-gloved hand into my pocket. “Considering the way she behaves around me, it is difficult to believe she belongs to anyone else.” Why was I talking about Adora with them, and why couldn’t I stop?
Julian and the rest of the Heathens exchanged glances, then looked down at their coffee mugs.
I loathed being a novice. “What is it now?”
“Nothing,” Zephyr said. “It’s just that Cyrus is hermatch, but she still betrayed him for you. We’re surprised, truly. You must really have a hold on her.” His green eyes lifted to mine. “Sacred Sea does not play games when it comes to matches, I can assure you.”
Julian leaned back, his knee bent and his boot flat against the exterior wall. “If what you say is true, and she’s his match, then in five nights, you’ll see for yourself. At their bedding ceremony, a bright light shoots up into the sky. You can see it no matter where you are in Weeping Hollow. It’s a pretty big event for their coven.”
“Bedding ceremony?”
Beck was standing across from me against the other column. “It’s not that strange if we were to take their other rituals into account. But, yeah, the founding families are part of it. Because Adora and Cyrus are a match, magic will just pour right out of them, and the coven will soak it up.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Not only would another man be fucking her, but everyone would be watching, seeing her naked, her breasts, her orgasmic expressions that I once gave her, taking everything that was once only hers and mine.
Phoenix stopped his gentle rocking. “If you want, we can make sure you’re ...distracted,have a girl or two sent to your room that night.”
“Though I appreciate your offer for a futile fuck, I must decline,” I said. “Relying on ordinary alternatives is not my style. Nor is asking for favors.” Having given my whole self to Adora, I could not imagine feeling secure and comfortable enough to open up to anyone else. Besides, no one could be as perfect as her—my peerless siren. I’d much rather go without.
