“So, you two are friends, then?” My eyes widen as they glance at each other and then back at me.
Katie shrugs. “We’ve known each other for a while, yes.”
“We’ve bonded through sharing the same goals. You could call us besties at this point, wouldn’t you agree?” That crooked smile sets my soul on fire.
“Are…celestials more powerful than witches?” I place my hands on my hips, tilting my head to the side as I wait for him to respond.
Both Kairos and Katie laugh, but I don’t. It was a serious question, albeit one I was only brave enough to ask thanks to the alcohol coursing through my veins.
“He wishes.” Katie’s wide smile is followed by him brushing his hair back from his face and shaking his head.
His eyes narrow, but a smile dances across his lips. “So, you’ve told her a thing or two, I see. I thought maybe Nora and I could talk… alone. Or were you leaving?”
“We were actually heading out soon. It’s too bad, really.” Katie sighs. “Maybe now isn’t the best time for the conversation you’re wanting to have with her, anyway. It can wait.” Her voice is firm and unwavering, even as his smile fades and his jaw clenches.
“I’ve waited long enough. It’s time. You told me yourself we need to talk to her, and it seems you’ve already had the chance to.” Crossing his arms over his muscular chest, his eyes burn into mine with the intensity and heat of a thousand suns. “Maybe you should let Nora decide for herself what she wants. It’s not your choice to make, Katie.”
I want answers. I told myself I would find this man and get them, so running away from him now doesn’t feel right. Although he scared me a little the night I fell from the bridge, I didn’t feel fear when I saw him at the cemetery. I feel a lot of things here with him now, and not one of them is fear. I’m drawn to him. I feel safe.
“Nora, we can go. You don’t need to stay unless you truly want to. There will be plenty of time for discussions when she hasn’t chugged half a bottle of tequila.” Katie glares at Kairos. “We only came over here to say hello and leave.”
I tuck my hair behind my ears and turn to face her. “I’d like to stay and talk. You can stay at my house with Olivia, and I’ll meet you there later. I’m waiting for Ere, anyway. He’ll be here soon and can get me home safely.”
I can’t leave. What if he can tell me the truth about what happened to my parents? Or has useful information about the darkness that keeps invading my mind? I’m not going anywhere.
Katie glares at Kairos and he glares right back. “Fine. If you think this is for the best, then be my guest. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.” He winks at her, and she groans loudly, her shoulders sagging as she gives up the fight.
Giving me a quick but too tight hug, Katie turns and leaves without another word. My gaze lingers on her back as she hastily makes her way out the door.
A part of me wants to leave with her. I’m scared. Not of Kairos. Only of what he might be here to tell me. I’m not sure I’m ready for the truth, or that I can handle much more after my conversation with Katie earlier. But if there’s a chance he can shine some light onto my current situation, the forgotten suicide attempt on the bridge or the one I too clearly remember in the lake, then I have no choice but to listen.
“Would you like to sit?” He gestures to the back of the club where tables and booths line the walls.
“Sure. Yea, that’d be great. I have a friend meeting me here soon, but we have plenty of time. He’s running late.”
Heading toward the booth in the back corner, he stops walking and glances back at me. “Your friend, as in your boyfriend? Great. I hope I get a chance to say hello.” He forces a tight-lipped smile and then continues on, leading us through the crowd.
In the corner of the club where the music fades to a distant hum, he leans in close. “By the way, I’m Kairos,” he says, flashing one of those crooked smiles I’ve already learned to expect. “What shall I call you?”
“You know my name. I heard you say it already.” I shake my head, raking my eyes up and down him as I continue. “It’s Nora, but you can call me Nor if you’d like. It’s what my friends and family have always called me.” I lean back against the velvety booth. “It seems you already know a thing or two about me. How?” I take a sip from the drink in front of me, not remembering ordering it, only that it wasn’t here before and yet now here it sits.
I’m drunk. I’m not in the stumbling-and-falling-down stage, just the my-mind-is-mush-and-I-can-barely-register-what’s-happening stage, but I sip on the sweet drink anyway.
“As much as I love your given name, I think I’ll call you princess instead,” he gestures to the crown on my head, and I immediately regret ever putting the damn thing on.
I yank it off, untangling my hair from the pointy bristles meant to keep it in place, then toss it onto the glossy, burned wood table between us. I glare at him. “If you want to live, please never call me that again.”
My cheeks burn as I smooth out my hair, pretending his words didn’t bother me, but I’m not okay. I’m mortified. I’ll literally never recover.
Hearing my threat, his smile widens, his shoulders shaking briefly, a laugh I’m sure that I can’t hear past the music blaring behind me. “Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been stalking you?” He arches an eyebrow up and leans his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his clasped hands. The little daggers tattooed on his fingers remind me how dangerous he might be despite my gut urging me that I’m safe.
I chew on my bottom lip, staring into my glass and considering his words. “Have you? Can I ask why the hell you’d be doing that?”
I’m not surprised. I know it was him who swooped in to save me after the fall from the bridge, and the one who watched me from the tree line at the cemetery. I’m almost positive he saved me from the lake the night I nearly drowned, too. As I meet his gaze, his eyes hold me captive and I don’t want to look away, the bright green now revealing swirls of light blue as I look at them closer. I force myself to focus on anything other than his eyes, instead focusing on his fingers now wrapped around his cup and tapping on the thick glass. The fact he has been watching me might creep out someone whose sanity was still intact, but I’m quite certain mine shattered to pieces a while ago. It has the opposite effect instead, sending waves of guilty excitement pulsing through me.
Wearing that charming smile, his lips hovering over his glass, he takes a swig of his whiskey. “I tell you I’m stalking you and it gets you excited. You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
