“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Either way, I know you can see beneath Cain’s bullshit where no one else has. He has everyone under his spell. Our parents, the teachers, our coaches… Everyone. Except you.” I reached for her hand, laced my fingers with hers. “Thea, what’s the other stuff you can do?”
For a second, she just contemplated me, and I got the feeling she was trying to judge whether or not to be candid with me. I wanted so badly to be let into the inner circle, even as I wondered what the hell my aura was telling her—it took her long enough to listen to it.
Then, slowly, she opened the doors to her soul and let me in. “Nanny used to be able to heal. Not like miracle cures, but she could ease pain and things. She had healing hands.”
Mouth agape, I just stared at her.
Wincing, she muttered, “I know, it sounds crazy. Why do you think I’m not comfortable with telling you the truth?”
I just blinked.
Another huff told me she was getting agitated, but she admitted, “When I got back to the house last week, I knew Louisa was dying. It was more than her aura. There was just a sense in the house.”
She shivered, and my hands automatically swept around her, board and all, and I dragged her closer to me. She released the board, then slipped her legs around my thighs, hugging me to her. It was the closest I’d been to heaven, and the nearest I’d been to hell in my entire life.
“It was horrible,” she whispered, and I felt guilty for being so insensitive when she was evidently upset. “I’ve only smelled that once before—in Nanny’s hospital ward. I’ll never forget it…
“Louisa’s mom was already grieving her. Like Emma knew she was near the end too. Her pain hurt me. Emma’s a good person. She dropped everything to care for her daughter, she stays by her side, researching all the time, looking for cures, for answers, ways to help her. They’ve gone around the country visiting different specialists. She fought for her daughter.”
The way Thea’s momma hadn’t.
Those words went unspoken.
“I heard her pain, felt it, and I tried to help.”
When she fell silent, I read between the lines. “You healed her?”
She shook her head. “No. At first, I thought I’d killed her. I gave her some more time, I think. Eased her suffering. Not a lot really. Not for the way it knocked me out.”
“You collapsed?” I questioned, my voice turning hoarse at the prospect of her dealing with all this alone.
“Yes. It wasn’t the flu or a summer cold. It was the healing. When you give of yourself, there’s always a price.” She rubbed her nose after pinching the bridge. “That you felt the cold, too, tells me something I already knew.”
“What’s that?” I wasn’t even sure why I didn’t think any of this was crazy. Maybe because I loved Supernatural? I mean, I didn’t want to be a Winchester, but their shit was cool. An ex had gotten me hooked, and I’d been a die-hard fan ever since.
A closet fan, of course. Cain would never let me hear the end of it otherwise.
“Another gift unique to our family—we know who our soul mates are. We call them our jílo.”
The word solidified inside me, settling with the rightness of her claim. There was no need to freak out, not when this made sense of the crazed panic I’d been dealing with since the last time we’d met.
“I can believe that,” I told her gruffly, dropping my eyes to our hands which were still knotted together.
“You can?” She squeezed my fingers.
“Of course. Of everything you’ve told me, it makes the most sense.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “That’s very enlightened of you.”
I hesitated for a fraction of a second, then dipped my chin. Letting my lips brush along hers, I whispered, “I’d like to say I’m an enlightened kind of guy, but after a week without you? Only this explains what I’ve gone through.”
Misery passed over her features. “I’m sorry, Adam.”
“You didn’t mean to put me through that.” I sucked down a breath. “But, whatever you do, please, try not to do it again.”
“Never,” she vowed. “I have your phone now.”
“My number’s written on the inside of the box. Use it. Whenever. For whatever. You understand?”
“Bossy.”
I laughed a little, suddenly feeling warmer than I had in a week. “I try.”