“Do I really have to leave Aspen tonight?” I whined, watching him rattle a giant plush bat attached to his play center. He was giggling, smacking it into the haunted dollhouse next to it, having the best time.
“Yes.” Hazel came into the room, holding my skirt up, its layers of choppy tulle cascading like a mystical black waterfall to the floor. “It’s the perfect time to remind everyone of the upcoming relaunch and your models will all be on display. They will expect you there. Even if it’s only for an hour.”
“I’m holding you to that hour,” I said, shooting her a glare.
“Now, if you happen to get swept away, say by some handsome witches…” she winked, “I’m not opposed to picking up Aspen and bringing him home sooner.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I was already dreading being at the party with all of them. Things with Atlas were bad enough without thinking about coming face-to-face with Saros after I’d accidentally borrowed his Recollection and put his job in a precarious situation. He’d probably never touch me again.
Lynx had texted me saying Saros was okay, but I wouldn’t believe it until I talked to him myself, and I was at a loss of what I’d even say.
Hazel sighed, pulling me from my internal meltdown. “Out with it.”
“What?” I blinked away my bubbling anxiety.
“You going to talk about what’s got you acting so strange?”
“I’m not acting strange,” I blurted, realizing as soon as the words left my mouth how much of a bald-faced lie they were.
“Look, you’ve been weird—weirder than usual—ever since you touched me with Saros’s Recollection.” Her hands slipped into the pockets of her trousers. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but—”
“Aurora,” I breathed out, much more inclined to talk about this than my man problems. “I saw you with Aurora.”
She sucked in a breath, shoulders raised up tight. We both stood there in silence for a moment, aside from Aspen’s giggles coming from his play center, until she finally released her breath and spoke again. “I was not expecting that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were involved with her? Them?” I really didn’t see enough to even know what to ask.
“Everyone is entitled to some secrets. Even from their sisters.” She shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you, but I also feel like you’ve only let me confide in you since you returned. You’ve told me nothing.” I lay the corset on the bed before patting the mattress for her to sit next to me. “Nothing about when you were taken. Nothing about since you’ve been back.”
When she sat down, I grabbed her hand, holding it like a talisman for courage to say what had been weighing on me since she’d returned. “You still haven’t even told me who you were meeting the night you were kidnapped. Do you know how horrible I felt having no clue where you’d gone? When people asked me where you were going, what you were doing, and I was the shitty sister who didn’t have an answer?”
She squeezed my hand. “You had a lot of other things going on, Oakley. You’d just moved here. You had Aspen to take care of.”
“That’s not a good enough reason.” Tears sprang from my eyes. “I almost fucking lost you…and in some ways, I feel like I did. The Hazel before would have told meeverything. The Hazel before didn’t feel entitled to secrets.”
“Maybe you just didn’t really know the Hazel before?”
“Wow,” I said, snatching my hand back as if her words had bitten it.
“I don’t mean it like that but, Oakley, everyone has secrets.Everyone.” Her brown eyes held my gaze in challenge. “Or are you telling me that I know everything that’s going on between you and Atlas, Lynx, and Saros, or that they even knoweverythingabout what’s going on with each other?”
“Th-that’s not the same and you know it!”
My face heated. We were talking aboutherright now. Not me.
Notthem.
“Isn’t it?” She got up from the bed and knelt by Aspen, taking the orange plastic balls decorated like pumpkins and dropping them down the spiraling tower. Then her attention returned to me, hands continuing to play with her nephew. “Even you have secrets from me, from everyone you claim to love and care about. It doesn’t make you a bad person, and it doesn’t mean you love them any less.”
Fuck.I was getting tired of everyone seeing right through me lately.
I released a long sigh. “Will you at least tell me what was going on with Aurora? Did your relationship have anything to do with Acacia’s murder?”
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But keep your judging to a minimum because I already know how this is going to sound.” She cut me a glare, and I nodded at her request. Who was I to judge anyone else’s love life? “I met Aurora and Fitz when I sold them their house. They helped get me the exclusive deal with Celestial Haven, and with their status in the community, they were an amazing set of allies as I was getting started. It was all professional going into things.” My side-eye came out unintentionally and she scoffed. “You said you wouldn’t judge.”
Wiping the look off my face, I tried to really listen to what she was saying. “What changed?”
