Yes. Yes I can. The atmosphere is thick and oily. Not electric like before a storm, but something different—and unnatural. “You think it’s the coming Dunamis pulse? Are we tuning into that?”
I don’t like the thought, but it seems possible.
She gives another shrug. “I don’t know. My brain feels like mush.” She reaches out and starts fiddling with things on the counter. I watch as she twists the corkscrew up and down slightly maniacally.
“Hey, what’s going on? Where’s the Theodora who’s about to head into battle, an army at her back?” I ask quietly. “Where is the warrior queen?”
“Maybe that’s always been a facade. Look at me. What can I really do?”
I reach out to touch her then retract my hand. “Believing in someoneotherthan myself is a new experience for me, Theodora. But Idobelieve in you. I truly do.”
She looks up at me, then her gaze flicks over the living room area. “Remember when you forced me to massage your back? Compelled me to kneel in front of you?”
Fuck.
“Yes.”
“Which you is real, Cosmo? That douche Elite, or this guy standing in front of me?”
Closing my eyes for a second, I think about her question. The truth is, I’ll always be an arrogant asshole, but I hope that I can maybe change into one who isn’t wilfully cruel.
“It’s pointless to try and answer that, Theodora. Would my words change anything?”
When she looks away, I see the truth.
No.
They won’t.
But perhaps my deeds can.
She shoves the corkscrew to one side, and next picks up a little box.
I freeze.
Theodora is not really concentrating on what she’s doing as she flips the little hinges open. But then her body tenses. We both look down at the sparkling monstrosity.
“Jordan’s ring?” she asks, her voice catching.
“Yep.”
“Ruby’s?”
“Red diamonds, actually. Mother picked it out. Fire and ice, you know.” I don’t bother stifling my grimace. We both look down at the sparkling monstrosity. The red diamonds look like droplets of blood frozen in platinum.
“And tomorrow you give it to Jordan.”
“Unfortunately.”
So very fucking unfortunately.
“What happens at an Elite engagement ceremony?”
I shudder. “A spell binds us, making infidelity impossible.”
“No, really?” Her eyes grow wide. “Are you telling me all the Elite couples are perfectly faithful to each other? That seems…unlikely.”
Her cynicism is well founded. “The effects of the binding only last for a couple of years. By that time the couple is supposed to be so established that the lock and key is unnecessary.”
