from the freezer.
My brows curled down. What the fuck was I doing? I had never had so much interest in my neighbors before. Once I researched all their sordid details and found out they weren’t hiding anything mythical or a magical side, I was done with them. But these two … I blamed the fact that there was nothing online about them. That was the only reason I was curious and even accepted Lia's invitation to stay for fucking dinner.
Had I shared a dinner with a human since becoming a warrior five hundred years ago? Well … there was a short period of time, before my punishment, that I didn’t remember, but I honestly doubted I had shared a meal with a human family then either.
It just wasn’t me.
Stomping her feet, Kenna came back to the kitchen and grabbed dinner plates from inside the cabinet near the sink.
“I can help,” I said, reaching for the plates.
My hands cupped hers.
Blurred images exploded in my skull.
A girl in a beige and soft yellow dress stumbling back and falling; me reaching for her, grabbing her wrist, and keeping her steady.
“Devon?” I blinked, and the images went away. Kenna raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you okay?”
I took the plates from her. “Yeah, I am.” I turned around and placed the plates in front of three of the four stools around the kitchen’s island, aware of Kenna’s eyes watching my back.
When she moved and went to grab glasses, I let out a slow breath.
What the fuck was that? It had been my imagination, I was sure. A vision? A memory? But why? Of what? And why had it happened when I had touched Kenna?
Kenna stepped to my side and placed the glasses beside the plates. Then, she opened a drawer where the utensils were. Trying to be useful so I wouldn’t get kicked out, I looked around and found the napkins. I brought them to the island.
Kenna shook her head at me, then whirled to the counter and messed with her phone.
I didn’t want to get kicked out. Not yet. Because if I had been curious about my new neighbors before, it was nothing compared to how curious I was now.
Past
Kianna
After an entire day working on the farm, Kianna was tired. When the sun began to set, signaling the end of the work day, she couldn’t be more relieved. Until she saw the tools still in the field. Some of them couldn’t be left out in the weather, and some had to be cleaned before being put away; otherwise they would rust and break. And they couldn’t afford new tools right now.
Kianna looked around. Giles had already left. Catherine had come to call him for supper. Kianna couldn’t blame him for leaving with only a muttered goodbye. Besides his age, his house was a good walk from her family’s farm, and he liked to be home before the sun went down.
She smiled. Tomorrow, she would make sure to stop earlier and ask for his help before he left.
With a long sigh, Kianna knelt down and picked up a few of the smaller tools, bunching them up in her apron. Movement to her right caught her attention and she looked up.
Devon.
He was still plowing the second half of the field, where they would soon plant new seeds.
She stared at him, not because he was shirtless and his muscles flexed with each of his movements, or because his long, black hair, tied in a low ponytail, stuck to his sweaty back—her cheeks heated at that thought—but because he was a mystery to her. The quiet man, who wasn’t much older than she was, had been here for almost five days, and since then, he had been working relentlessly. He woke up early, ate the breakfast her mother handed to him, then went out to work. He took a break for a quick lunch, then worked past sunset. Most nights, he joined the family for dinner after a quick wash, but he remained mostly quiet, observing the family.
Sometimes, Kianna wondered if he had lost his memory, but didn’t want to ask. He had suffered some kind of accident, lost his memory, found himself alone and wandering down the road, and when her mother showed him kindness, he couldn’t resist.
But if that was true, why wasn’t he trying to find his family instead of persistently working for hers? It didn’t make sense.
Shaking her head and pushing away those thoughts, Kianna carried the tools to the wooden bench beside