She’s still lying beside me, glancing over her shoulder, but no longer at my face. She’s fixated on my antlers. I wonder if theyscare her… I’d cut them off right now if it would make her look at me like she did a second ago.
The playfulness on her face is gone. That teasing glint in her eyes has been snuffed out.
Her breath falters. I feel it more than I hear it.
I let out the longest breath I’ve ever held. “You’re safe,” I say softly.
Her eyes flick to mine. “I didn’t mean to?—”
“I know,” I cut her off gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
If anyone should apologize, it’s me—my claws are still dug deeply under the cushions, and I was growling almost the entire time. I reach for her, carefully easing my arm from under her head, just in case she’s repulsed now that she’s fully awake and has seen me for what I truly am.
My fingers brush her waist, and a shiver ripples through her. I nearly snarl just from the relief of touching her again. My body misses hers the second she’s gone. I should have more control over myself at this age, but I want her more than I want my next breath.
She glances back up at my antlers.
“How did you get my sister’s locket?” She blurts out.
My stomach drops. I knew this moment would come.
“I took it from the man in the woods,” I say quietly. “He was carrying it like a trophy.”
Her whole face drops, “Was it… were there?—”
“He had other things too. Things that belonged to other women.” I keep my voice neutral. “The forest… brought him to me.”
She doesn’t utter a single word.
I don’t tell her the rest—that I knew the moment I caught her scent clinging to the metal that I had found the other half of my soul.
“I didn’t know it was your sister’s,” I add. “I only knew it didn’t belong to him.”
But I realize now that’s why her scent was mixed with another. I thought it came from being stored with other stolen things. I was scenting Lumi, yes—but only because she was close enough to her sister that her scent lingered on the locket.
Suddenly, her grief from the forest makes so much more sense.
Her throat bobs. “And you just decided to take it? Why hers and not the others?”
How do I answer that without making her leave?
I stare at her, the words lodging in my throat?—
I didn’t choose it. It chose me.
I don’t know,” I murmur—a half-lie that turns my gut. I hate deceiving her, but I can’t risk scaring her away. “It felt… important.”
She looks away long enough to wipe the tears she doesn't think I've seen.
“It is important,” she whispers.
I nod once, not trusting myself to speak.
“Can I please have it back?” She asks.
“Of course. It belongs to you.”
I reach up and slowly unlace the chain from my antler. Each loop I unwind makes my heart ache. Even if it wasn't hers, it was the only piece of mySaelûnI had ever found.
