I should have laughed. If anyone back in Jersey ever said that to me, I would be rolling on the ground. But when Sin said it… my heart thumped a little faster.
He kissed me then, deep, passionate, and over far too soon. He pulled away before I could even get my hands on him, yet that simple kiss had me breathless.
“Whatever your reasons, Rain. Can you please trust me in this? It’s a bad idea to tell anyone right now.”
With my legs still wobbly from the way he pressed himself against me, I found myself absently nodding. “Okay.”
“Good girl,” he said, smirking, and if I wasn’t trying so hard to keep my knees from buckling I might have smacked him.
I managed to pull myself upright and turned to walk down the hall. I made it maybe three steps before I heard his voice.
“One hundred and fourteen,” he called.
I looked over my shoulder and cocked an eyebrow.
“You said I only spent a handful of days with you. It was actually a hundred and fourteen. I know you better than youthink, Rain L. Solis.” And with that he gave me a wink and disappeared back into the library.
I stared at the space he vacated and tried to figure out why my stomach all of a sudden felt like it was full of fluttering baby crescia.
Damn.
Of all the possible dangers in this world, I was pretty sure he was the blade that could cut the deepest.
I went up to my room, showered, and quickly threw Peywyn’s clothing back on before the sisters showed up. I had no doubts that if they saw my ramentum, they’d run straight to my father.
After breakfast, Dey left me at the door of the Sylvarium with a kiss on the hand, and a reminder that visitors would start arriving at the castle tomorrow for the King’s Council, so I should enjoy the relative peace and quiet while I could.
By the time I entered the serene indoor garden, I thought my head might implode under the weight of all the secrets I had to keep.
Opal flitted over to me and landed in my hair once again. I laughed at the standard greeting of nuzzles and chitters, though it did seem like she was a bit more aggressive than usual. I searched for Jenni since she was normally the first one to claim a spot atop my head.
“Jenni?” I called, walking around to the different hanging vines. I couldn’t spot her scarlet coloring anywhere among the sea of crescia.
“Jenni!” I called, louder this time. Opal started chirping anxiously, and I gave her a couple of quick, soothing caresses.
“It’s okay, Opal. I’m just worried about Jenni. I don’t suppose you know where she is?”
Okay, maybe talking to her was a little silly, but it was better than the alternative—accepting that Jenni was gone.
Before I could return to my usual bench, Opal gave another loud chitter and flew from my hair. She tore across the Sylvarium and landed on the rim of a wide planter that overflowed with enormous lily-like flowers.
“What’s going on, Opal?” I asked, trying to suppress my rising apprehension.
As I approached, the small crescia bobbed up and down a few more times, then hopped into the planter, nudging aside one of the large flower petals and disappearing underneath it.
Carefully, I shifted the leaves to the side and took in a sharp inhale at the small, shiny white bundle that lay nestled in the dirt. I leaned a bit closer and could see that it was moving, shifting ever so slightly. The white threads that covered it were expanding and growing. I pushed a few more flowers back so I could see the whole thing and caught the slightest glimpse of a red wing before it, too, was encapsulated by the shimmery white strands.
It hit me then, something Dey had said.
“Crescia draw themselves into sort of a cocoon once they have bonded.”
Bonded.
This had to mean Jenni was my crescia. A squeak of excitement leapt out. I actually had a bonded crescia. And I had magic. My world hadn’t shifted this much since I landed here a week ago.
Opal sidled up to the cocoon and lay beside it, apparently happy to assume guard duty. I slumped back against the planter and let the flower petals slide back into place to protect them.
The grin on my face was so huge it started to hurt. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so happy. Crescia. Magic. It didn’t fully hit me before with Sin, but in the peace of theSylvarium, it dawned on me that I was, in fact, not entirely human.
