Am I that fucking transparent? “Don’t let it go to your head,” I say. “These days I’m afraid of my own shadow.” This is quite literally the longest we’ve spoken since the avalanche, and it’s freaking me the fuck out.
“Having met one of them, I’d say it’s not without reason.”
My eyes narrow, and the easy banter between us dies a swift death. “You said Seth didn’t hurt you.”
Aurelia sighs like my concern is an inconvenience and then changes the subject. “Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat before I shower.”
“No,” I say tightly even though my stomach feels like it’s touching my spine. And then I remember to at leasttryto be civil. “Thanks.”
There’s no way in hell I’m eating her damn food.
Aurelia quickly turns away from me like she’s hiding her reaction and sets her cup in the sink. “I guess Seth must have warned you about my special stew.”
I almost tell her that I haven’t heard Seth since I woke up—not even to mock me as he’s prone to do, but I hesitate at the hopeful look in her eyes before swallowing the words down.
She’s searching for him.
In little ways. In whatever ways she can.
Aurelia probably thinks if she talks about Seth enough, he’ll come back to her. Does she know the only way to him is through my pain? Would she care? I swallow when I feel my hands begin to shake.
She’s not Tatum, I remind myself.
Aurelia isn’t even close to being anything like my ex.
When I met Tatum, she was soft and sweet and never had an unkind word for anyone, but as it turned out, it was all a front to hide the fact that she had no soul.
And when I look at Aurelia? All I see is her heart and spirit. She quite literally glows from it shining through her with the brightness of a star and the force of the sun.
Sunshine.
My heart jolts from the shock of hearing Seth’s voice after so many days of silence, but when I reach for him, I once again grasp onto nothing.
Seth?
Frustrated when he doesn’t answer, not even to taunt me, I glance at Aurelia who isn’t even trying to hide the fact that she’s watching me, and a theory forms. The only way to know for sure is to test it.
“Are you okay?” she asks me before turning to the sink to wash out her cup.
“Actually, it was Thorin and Khalil who warned me to watch out for your stew,” I say, responding to her earlier statement.
Looking at me over her shoulder, she flashes a sneaky smile, and it’s the vengeful, unapologetic gleam in her eyes that oddly makes me relax. “It’s an Aurelia George specialty. I call it Fuck Around and Find Out.”
My amusement is earnest when I laugh, and like I theorized, images begin pushing themselves into the forefront of my mind.
It’s the memory of a terrified Aurelia standing on the threshold of our cabin with the dark night like an impenetrable wall of black behind her. There’s something surreal about the memory though. In my head, Aurelia glows—white light at first and then golden like the sun. Her torn milkmaid dress is wet andplastered to her body, and she’s pleading with us not to let her go.
The memory ends, and I clench my teeth at Seth’s attempt to manipulate me.
That’s not what she meant, Seth, and you know it.
He’s stubbornly silent again though, even after feeding me another memory. It’s more than the crumbs he’s usually willing to part with, but it’s still not enough.
“You chose Khalil,” I blurt once the rest of that night plays out in my mind. I shove the memory away once it shows me Aurelia naked in his bed and huddled under his sheets—waiting for him. I don’t need Seth’s memories to know what happened next. “Why?”
She stiffens at my question but then turns to face me instead of hiding away. Her nostrils flare, and then I worry if I’m making her relive something she doesn’t want to. “Does it matter?”
“It will help me understand you.”
