Ugh.The acidity flooding her palate was only partly due to the wine she no longer had any taste for and happily lived without.
She jammed the stopper back into the potbellied jug. “Worried,” Bellanca answered truthfully. And…jealous?She bit her lip, an uncomfortable tightness banding around her chest.Even if she wanted Carver to love her in that way, she’d be competing against nostalgia and a dead woman for the rest of her life.
No thanks.
She gripped the clay container, the aftertaste of the wine as bitter as her thoughts. How could Konstantina still hold Carver’s heart in such a fierce grip? Was it because the stupid womandiedonly months after breaking her promises to him? She left Carver without anywhere to channel his anger and pain, and Carver spent years fooling everyone into thinking he was fine. That charade came to a crashing end after his brush with death—and an unexpected brush with Konstantina on the fringes of the Underworld—left him in total chaos.
Bellanca met him just after that. He seemed to be wasting his potential, and she took it upon herself to irritate him nearly to death anytime he even looked at a jug of wine. It had seemed the only way to get through to him, to make himreact. It had also taken a private talk with Cat to finally snap Carver out of his pickled wallowing, and Bellanca wasn’t sure she could unpickle him by herself, no matter how annoying she got.
“You and your husband have always seemed to have a special connection,” Lilika gently said. “I’m sure you’d know if something was wrong.”
The blood crashed from her head, leaving her vision spotted. That was the problem. Shedid.
Abruptly pivoting, Bellanca walked toward the door. “I have to go. Just…tell Dimitri I left.” She’d take her chances with the feral, magic-hungry ancestral Magoi of Atlantapol. She knew for a fact she could be twice as feral as any of them.
“Don’t.” Lilika lunged after her and grabbed her injured wrist. Long, fitted sleeves and sealed lips meant no one here knew about her burns, and Bellanca held back a gasp as pain leaped up her arm from under the other woman’s grip. She heldstill, not wanting to startle her friend. “Dimitri will just be a moment. Stay,” Lilika begged.
Giving in, Bellanca nodded as she carefully extracted her wrist and mentally snuffed out the pain, spark by spark. Mastering it, she glanced toward the back exit. “He should be walkingyouhome.”
That shy, for-Dimitri-only smile touched Lilika’s face. “He does sometimes. But I have my father. You need someone this time.”
Bellanca nearly spat out her usual mantra—that she didn’t need anyone and never had. But maybe that wasn’t true anymore. She’d been ready to come to Atlantis alone. She’dtoldCarver not to come. But he had anyway, and now the thought of anything happening to him left her queasy with dread.
“Dimitri kissed me this morning,” Lilika whispered, leaning in so she wouldn’t risk being overheard. “Our first.”
Bellanca turned to her, her mind so far from kissing and courtship that it took a moment to adjust. “Did you like it?” she asked hoarsely.
“Of courseI did.” Grinning, Lilika blushed.
Bellanca’s lost opportunity on the beach rushed back to her with surprising vengeance. She’d been startled, confused, nervous… She hadn’t meant to reject Carver with a burst of magic. And she hadn’t had time to figure outwhatshe wanted before he stormed off in a huff.
Restless and worried, she glanced out the door again, but she’d given up hope of seeing Carver walk in. “I’m glad it was nice.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Asking what it was like didn’t seem right, especially because Bellanca was supposed to be a married woman with experience. She’d never talked about anything like this with her sisters. Appoline, Lystra, and she had mostly talked about avoiding the rest of their family,trying not to get caught in a Power Bid or, worse, married off, and how to keep their maniacal brother from leveling an entire neighborhood—again.
“I was wondering…” Lilika said shyly. “What’s the next step like?”
Bellanca stared at her. She had no idea—well,someidea, just no personal insight—but luckily, Dimitri finally showed up. “Ready to go?” She moved toward the door without any intention of stopping this time.
He nodded, and they said their goodbyes, her with an apologetic look at Lilika for abandoning their conversation. Lilika waved her off with a smile and a don’t-worry, we’ll-talk-about-this-later gleam in her dark eyes. Finally on their way, Bellanca and Dimitri crossed the table-filled patio, opened the gate, and stepped into the street side by side. Dimitri immediately offered her his arm, signaling that she was protected and belonged.
Oddly enough, she did feel as though she belonged in Atlantis. Everything was familiar now, except the evening streets of Atlantapol didn’t feel at all the same without Carver, and being with Dimitri didn’t make her feel any less alone.
Chapter 13
Carver knew the exact moment Bel stepped through the door. The creaky hinges—he’d left them that way on purpose—were a big hint. The way his skin tightened all over was another, and he wasn’t sure he could convince himself the full-body twitch was still because he wanted to chop off all her flaming hair and make her eat it.
A wry smile tried to touch his lips. He groaned instead, the sound sinking into his mattress. Gods, he hurt. The pain burrowed so deep there was no end to it.
“And you thought she’d stay at Spiro’s,” he murmured to the two men who’d brought him home and tried to clean his back and patch him up. Lucky for him, they’d sewn up the lashes that needed closing before Bel got here. If she’d been home, Dex and Silas would’ve left her to it, and then he really would’ve been in trouble.
Dex hmphed in what sounded like disapproval as he peeled the wet cloth off Carver’s back. Cool evening air hit his damp skin, bringing a tiny bit of relief to the ceaseless agony.
“She should’ve,” Silas muttered from near the head of the bed. “At least she made it back.”
Carver hadn’t thought for a second she wouldn’t make it home. He just wasn’t sure of the price she might have to pay to get here.
“Carver?” Bel shut the main door with her usual subtlety and restraint. “Are you here?”
Lying on his stomach, his head turned toward his open door, he growled like a bear in answer.
