thickly it even clings to the leaves around us. Kaino pushes his hair back, clearing his throat as we all wait for someone to say something. My breath begins to build in my chest.
I should probably… leave.
“Fallon’s staying with the witch near the Emerald Ocean,” Kaino finally tells me.
I lower the sword, nearly letting it thump to the ground as I nod.
“Sorry,” I tell them, my eyes travelling the darkness to avoid their hooded glares. “Thanks,” I add before turning stiffly away, concluding the most uncomfortable moment of my life.
Her lips part as soon as her big eyes settle on me in the doorway of the Infinity witch’s home. A bright orange robe is tied loosely at her waist, something the witch must have loaned her. The only thing that crosses my mind is how good the color looks against her warm complexion.
Her mouth is still slightly open. It’s as if she has too many thoughts she wants to say, but none of them are enough.
“What are you doing here, Asher?”
Apparently one of them is enough.
“I –” Just like her, I have too many mixed emotions running through me. I want to say whatever will make her look at me like she used to. I want to say whatever will make her come with me to find Atticus. I want to say whatever she wants to hear.
Instead I tell her the truth. “I miss you.”
Swiftly her arms cling around herself, wrapping the robe closer to her curves, keeping her body safely away from me. She doesn’t say anything, her eyes grazing the old wooden floor beneath her bare feet.
The space that separates us feels like miles, but it also feels too close.
I shouldn’t have come here.
“You’re staying here?” I ask.
It’s easy to know what Fallon sees when she looks at the Infinity witch. The comfort she finds in the witch is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Never once have I seen an Infinity witch befriend another mystic the way this one has. She’s different. But so is Fallon.
I can only hope the witch doesn’t make an appearance tonight. I can’t handle seeing my brother right now.
Trinkets are tacked to the walls. Endless amounts of ancient pottery litters the available space on all of the tables. Unrecognizable objects hang from the ceiling, creating a messy essence of the past all around the room.
“Kenzent offered to let me stay here. She … I don’t even realize she’s here most of the time. And she disappears so quickly I – I’ll never have to worry about hurting her.”
Does she worry she’ll hurt me?
A long and ceaseless breath leaves my tired lungs. The heavy winds of the ocean seem to pull it right from me. The breeze twists the loose strands of her long hair across her pretty face. Her hair is longer than I remember; damp locks dip down around her shoulders and arms. The usually tight curls are loose waves, demanding me to feel them between my fingertips.
“Her name’s Kenzent?” It’s the only normal thing I can think to ask.
With a small and genuine smile that ignites my heart, Fallon nods. My lips turn up with the sight of her beautiful happiness.
She’s happy here … Good.
My hands push deep into my pockets as I rehearse once more what I intended to say. “I think we should start searching for Atticus.”
Sharp, white teeth bite into her lower lip as her attention hits the floor again. I lick my lips slowly as I wait for her reply, my focus a little too attentive to the lip she’s toying with.
“We can leave tomorrow at dusk. Declan says he has an idea of where the vampires will be hiding while they regain their strength.”
She spoke to Declan?
I push aside the irrational spike of jealously that seems to invade my mind more and more lately. I nod, concentrating on the fact that tomorrow we’ll finally be leaving.
Tomorrow is the start of something I’m fully prepared for. Something deadly.
After the months I’ve spent with Declan, I’d assume I still wouldn’t want to rip out his flirting tongue and shove it up his own ass. And yet the urge still boils under my skin every time he so much as sends Fallon an overly pleasant smile.
Kaino and Shane lead our group south east through the moonlit forest, while Ayden and Declan keep my wife company. She seems to keep her distance from Ayden as much as possible as she chomps on the bones Declan supplies her with. As