“Mind asking your mom if there’s a timeline on this thing?”
“I’ll call her as soon as I get back.”
She bent down and brought me in for a hug. “I’m sending some food over, so you don’t have to cook.”
I gave her a faint smile. “Thanks, Evie.”
She gave me a little wave and disappeared.
When I was alone, I sighed and got up, testing out my legs to make sure I could walk without wobbling.
When I reached the kitchen without incident, I made myself a cup of tea and took it back to the living room. I’d missed a few days of work and needed to adjust the schedule to take several more off.
Everyone who worked for me was getting a raise since I’d been such an absent boss.
Chapter
Thirty-Three
ETHAN
Sarah stared at me from across the table. A full meal sat before us, but I wasn’t hungry. Every single day, I regained a small piece of my memory. Sometimes it was tiny pieces—a joke Rowan told me, a recipe Moira made. Other times, those pieces were larger.
The memory of kissing Moira had slammed into me with the force of a bomb this morning. I’d more than kissed her. I’ddevouredher, and I couldn’t figure out why. Besides the obvious reasons. I shouldn’t have kissed her. Normally, I wouldn’t have. Nothing felt normal these days. Not me. Not Sarah. Not this living together we were doing, trying to pretend we were a happy couple. Everything felt forced.
Sarah was in none of the memories I’d recovered. Even stranger, I felt zero remorse when I remembered the kiss.
Why would I kiss Moira like that when I was involved with someone? I’d never strayed before. Doing something so heinous was not in my DNA. If I stopped caring about someone, I would break up with them.
And yet, Sarah was sitting across from me, smiling at me with her heart in her eyes. But that ugliness was still between us. Sometimes when she thought I wasn’t looking, I caught herstaring at me with a vacant expression in her eyes as if she was nowhere at all—like she’d suddenly disappeared and had traveled somewhere far away to a place nowhere in this world.
That witch had not returned. Her words stayed with me, but try as I might, I couldn’t reconcile anything she said with what I knew about Moira.
In fact, I wondered if the opposite were true—if that witch had something to do with my current circumstances.
Kinsley walked into the dining room and inclined his head. “You have a visitor.”
Sarah perked up. “Who is it?”
Kinsley’s eyes slid over her like water. For some reason, my Second was no longer a fan. If nothing else concerned me, that should. She and Kinsley got along like a house on fire in the past.
They weren’t friends. Few shifters were brave enough to befriend their Lord’s Lady, but they were able to joke around and tease each other with warm familiarity. Now there was nothing but stiff formality.
“Emberwood’s Lady is here,” Kinsley said. “She has requested a private audience with you.”
Sarah’s face turned thunderous. “She wants to meet with you alone? Why?”
I set my napkin down and rose. “No idea. She just arrived, Sarah. I’m sure it has something to do with new security protocols.”
The lie slipped from my lips so easily I had to look away so I couldn’t see Sarah’s face. Kinsley turned toward the door, but not before I saw the concerned flicker in his eyes.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Ethan!”
Sarah’s cheeks were hot with anger. “Since when have you begun dismissing me so easily?”
I looked for evidence of the woman I loved and saw more of someone I no longer recognized. “Since you became a different person.”
