She chuckled. “My brother may not tell me everything, but I knew from that first time he walked in here and found you shirtless, simply from the expression on his face, that you meant something more to him than he was letting on. I forced him to confess a few nights later.”
The room spun as I struggled to come to terms with everything she had said, my heart and brain finally snapping into sync with that single sentence. “Wait . . . your brother?”
“Yeah.” The smile remained on her face. “What did you think we were?”
“I just . . .” I stumbled over the words before bringing my hand to my face in embarrassment. “Never mind, it’s not important, he just never mentioned it to me.”
She sighed, but in a lighthearted manner. “That’s Otho, ever forgetting to mention his over-achieving older sister. I’m sure he didn’t forget to tell you Cal was his brother, however.”
Her happiness was infectious, and though I was tired, I found a smile forming on my lips too. “Brothers,” I joked, finding it impossible to hide my relief, “are the worst.”
“You can say that again,” Friar replied, but her happiness was snuffed out as her mind flickered to our interaction with my brother.
My mind drifted through all of my interactions with Otho as Friar stood and mixed items in a stone bowl. “Why didn’t Otho tell me I was his weighted before?”
Friar didn’t look up from the ingredients in her hands. “He can explain better than I, but I know he was worried you would feel pressure. He didn’t want you to think you didn’t have a choice when it came to . . . to being with him. And he didn’t want anyone to get any ideas and try to use you against him.”
It was hard to swallow as I recognized what Leif had done.
I could tell this topic was becoming awkward, so I decided to ask the other questions that were bubbling in my chest. “Is it possible for a person to have more than one weighted?”
Her hands stopped. “I don’t think so.” I waited, not saying anything. “But even the . . . science—if you call it that—behind weighteds has been murky the past century. While it was once believed that a weighted relationship was an end-all, that the two Seid in one were absolutely destined for one another, new information has changed things.”
“Such as?” I pressed.
“Well, my coven always taught me that the weighted relationship was one of amplification. Two individuals who were weighted are stronger together than they are apart. Especially because one of them typically has the seeker affinity. But many are questioning if that relationship has to be romantic or not, and if it was truly designed by the gods, because, if you think about it, a partnership is always stronger—whether they are Seid or . . . other.”
What she was saying made sense. It didn’t answer the question as to whether one of the men saying they were my weighted was lying or not, but at least now I knew there was more human input on the weighted relationship—it wasn’t just something imposed by the gods. “So, in theory, weighted may not be a thing at all?”
Friar bobbed her head, her back still to me. “Correct. But there is just one issue with that theory.”
“And that is?”
“Every weighted couple refers to the attraction to their weighted as irresistible, feeling as if it is an integral part of their life force. In fact, when a couple that has been ‘confirmed’ weighted experiences the death of one of the two, the other Seid follows soon after.”
I sucked in a breath. “So they can’t live without each other then?”
“It would appear that way, yes.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the door opening interrupted me, revealing broad shoulders, black hair, and gray eyes. My heart stuttered—Otho.
The world stopped in that moment. I think Friar was still talking, but her voice became a low hum in the background as the world fell from beneath my feet; I was floating. There was nothing else in this room. Nothing, beyond myself, and my pounding heart, and Otho.
I was vaguely aware of Friar excusing herself, the door closing behind her.
Next, he was crossing the room.
I think he asked if I was okay, and I think I nodded.
Then his lips were on mine and there was nothing less than pure bliss.
CHAPTER 40
Idon’t know how long we kissed for, or at what point he ended up lying next to me on the cot, his large frame halfway beneath my body as our lips remained intertwined. What I did know was that I wanted more, but as my hand brushed down his chest, he covered it with his own.
“As much as I am loving this, you need to heal before . . .” He breathed onto my swollen lips between kisses.
He was right. I wondered briefly if I should move, so that our entire bodies weren’t in line with one another, but on the small cot there was nowhere to go.
