A Crown Of Fire And Wrath (The Shadow Walkers Saga #5) - Sloane Murphy Page 0,75
I just roll my eyes and work out a way to pry that nifty little trick from him.
We head to the sitting room and Creek turns on the lamps and the twinkle lights, while Kain pours everyone a glass of wine. It seems so grown up, being here with all of them like this.
“This old woman is going to take a nap too, since there’s no cleaning to do,” Nonnie says as she refuses the drink from Kain. “I’ll see you all later.”
She wanders from the room, a chorus of goodbyes follow her, and then I’m left in the room with just my guys and Michael. To say the tension level rises when Michael sits beside me on the sofa is an understatement, but other than the odd glare from Roman and Levi, everyone keeps their promises of a good day.
We settle in on the couch, and Creek puts a Home Alone on the TV.
“What is this?” Roman asks, and Creek and I look at him wide eyed.
“You’ve never seen Home Alone?” Creek asks, almost horrified. Roman shakes his head, and when the others all admit they’ve never seen it either, we hunker down in silence and watch the film that Creek and I could probably recite by heart at this point, while we wait for Everly and Olivia to return.
The guys head outside with Michael after making some stupid bet that I wasn’t really listening to, so I leave them to it and make a pot of coffee.
“I thought I’d find you in here,” Everly says with a smile. “Olivia is outside playing referee with those silly boys.”
“Well, I’m glad someone can wrangle them. They only lasted a movie until they started with their bickering. I don’t even know what it was about, I tuned them out.” I laugh and pour us both a mug of coffee before we sit down.
“It is so good to see you, sweetheart,” Everly says, squeezing my hand.
“You too,” I say, my voice hoarse. “I am so sorry…”
“Remy, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about, you hear me? My time was up, and I got to have a few months with you that I never thought I would get. Sometimes I wish I had more time, but I got today, which I never expected, and it is more than I could have dreamed for. What happened to me was not your fault,” she tells me firmly. I open my mouth to respond but she shakes her head. “No, Remy. Absolutely not. I will not have you carrying this guilt on top of everything else you’re carrying. Michael filled me in on a few things so I didn’t put my foot in my mouth, and my heart aches for you my dear girl. You carry far more than you should, and this burden is not yours to carry.”
She squeezes my hand again, and then wipes a tear from her eye.
“I wish I could be here to help you through all of this.”
“Me too,” I tell her, laughing a little through my tears. “God knows those lot listened to you better than they ever do me.”
“Well, they are very stubborn boys,” she laughs.
We sit and talk, and I fill her in on the bits that Michael left out, and somehow telling her everything is like a weight being lifted from me, in a way it wasn’t in saying it before. Maybe I’m accepting it more, or maybe it’s because she became almost like a mother to me, which is crazily ironic, but still.
“Oh sweetheart. I am so sorry you’ve been going through all of this. But know, that if you ever need me, I will always have time for you in Avalon. Always, you hear?”
“Thank you,” I tell her softly.
The back doors open and the guys swoop in with Olivia, bringing the cold in with them.
“We, should probably be heading back,” Olivia announces. “I’m going to go and wake Astrid so she can say goodbye.” She leaves the room, and Everly smiles sadly.
“It’s probably time for us to go too,” Michael says, and I hurt all over again. Everly starts saying goodbye to the guys while Michael pulls me to one side. “I have a lead on the Hunter’s curse. I should get some answers in the next few days, so as soon as I know, I’ll be back, okay?”
“Thank you for looking into this for me. I know you have so much more going on.”