by Sonya Blake
“And then, at the end of summer she left you heartbroken.” Violet sighed. “And that’s when you started breaking hearts of your own, one after the other.”
“How in hell do you know all of this?” Sam asked.
Violet shrugged, sitting with her legs crossed atop the old trunk. “Just paid attention, that’s all.”
Sam shook his head. This was more than attention. This was obsession.
“And, you know, I get it,” Violet went on. “After having your heart broken you learned not to trust women. So you never let anybody in. And you were an animal, Sam.” Her mouth opened, then curved into a smirk. “I mean, you left all those ladies destroyed for other men. Poor Riley wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get over you.”
Sam frowned. He had to defend himself. “No, you’re wrong about that. She’s the only one I ever heard from afterwards. I swear.”
Violet laughed. “Um, no. You’re the one who’s wrong. The only reason you haven’t had droves of women weeping at your feet and begging for more is me. And you’re welcome, by the way.”
Sam shook his head, beyond confused.
“I made sure they forgot about you when they left Quolobit Harbor, Sam,” Violet explained. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I did that for you. I knew you wanted it that way.”
He was floored. Shocked. He would have called her a liar, only he knew she had ripped an entire day out of his own memory. If she could do that to him, she could surely do it to others.
“Riley slipped past me, and I’m sorry about that one,” Violet admitted. “She left a week early because her grandmother died, if you remember.”
He did, vaguely.
“Anyway, it caught me off guard. I didn’t have time to prepare the spell that would make her forget you. Needless to say, that was the last time I was so careless.” She gave him a trite smile, as if he ought to thank her.
But he didn’t want to thank her. He wanted to rip her to pieces.
“I waited, Sam,” she said, eyeing him. “I waited for you. Till I thought you’d be ready for something real. Ready for me.”
Sam almost laughed, but thankfully managed to control himself. Violet wasn’t his lover. She wasn’t his friend. She was his stalker. And she was batshit crazy.
Imagine… if every day in your entire life was a lifetime in itself. That’s how long my time has been.
What did that even mean?!
“So what is it about Kaia?” Violet asked with a tone of curiosity. “Why her?”
Sam shook his head in terror. No. If Violet could make women forget him, she could do the same to Kaia, if she chose. And if, God forbid, she found out that Kaia was not a human woman but a siren…
“Kaia’s nothing to me,” he said. “Just another fling.”
Violet laughed ruefully. “Just had to make your mark on her, huh, Sam? Claim all the pretty ones that come into town?”
He nodded. “Something like that.”
“Oh, how I love your insatiable virility.”
Violet’s smile was fading. He sensed he was treading on dangerous ground.
“And me?” she whispered, lips trembling. Her dark, full lashes swept over her brilliant green eyes. “What about me, Sam? Was I just another fling?”
Chapter Forty
Kaia watched the realtor’s car slip and slide out of the driveway as he left Foley’s Point. Her heart sank, when it should have been singing.
One point two million. Million. That was how he’d told her they should price the place. It was more, by half, than what she had expected, what she’d hoped. It frightened her, that big number.
A terrible quiet stole over her as she turned from the kitchen door and went to the sink, looking out the window at the rugged coastline where she had dragged Sam Lowell to land her first night in Maine.
One point two million was a number she couldn’t ignore. With that money, she could buy three of her own houses—two for herself, one for her dad. She could go back to school and get her music degree.
So she’d agreed to put the property on the market. Markus hadn’t even had to take photos; the ones on his rental site would do just fine for his web listing. He had shaken her hand and said he’d come by with a sign in case there happened to be any random January tourists looking to buy a place for their next summer retreat.
“You never know,” Markus had said to her. “The place could be sold by this time next week. I’ve seen it happen that fast.”
Kaia swallowed the heavy, dull queasiness rising inside her and clung to the edge of the sink, watching the waves roll in. Bittersweet tears started rolling down her cheeks. Her mother would want her to have the money, to have the best life she could. But her mother would also want Kaia to live the truth. And the truth was that she was a siren.
If only she had known. If only her father had told her. Maybe then she wouldn’t have stupidly jumped into the water and stirred up this conflict with the other siren. Maybe then she wouldn’t have another person’s lifeblood on her hands.
Angry, she picked up the phone and dialed the number for her father’s house. She needed answers. She wanted to hold him accountable for the secret he’d kept from her. The secret that had been under her skin all this time.
It rang and rang.
Eventually, Kaia hung up. She leaned against the fridge, defeated.
She pulled her arms around herself, wanting to be held. Another self had been living inside her her whole life, a self that was wild and strange, a self that could kill. She wasn’t sure she could live with herself if she had killed the siren. She needed to know. She needed to know who she really was.
Kaia picked up the phone and dialed the number from the scrawled note Sam had stuck on the fridge. She also needed someone to talk her out of swimming into the dark womb of Wapomeq Bay.
His phone went straight to voicemail.
“Dammit.” Kaia slammed the phone down on the receiver and stalked into the living room to look out at Thursday Island. Snow was coming in again, covering the island in a white haze. It was nothing more than a blurry smudge in the paleness. No sight of the Angeline.
She decided to try finding Sam in town, the only other place he could possibly be. After suiting up in her warmest clothes and letting the old truck run for ten minutes before dashing out to it, she took the road through the forest between her property and the main road. She went slowly, eyes on the quiet pine tree trunks and their whispery dead branches. A raven flew across her path and she watched it alight on a branch, unsettling a fine powder of snow that fell on the windshield.
When she got there, Kaia found Main Street deserted. Felicia Dunne’s shop was closed. There was no one except for Harvey in the Hook and Anchor. The Angeline wasn’t moored near the wharf and the harbormaster hadn’t seen Sam all day.
She had never felt so desperate for human company. For a reassuring word. Out of her mind and wishing that for once something could just be easy, she wiped the threat of tears from her eyes and turned the truck back toward Foley’s Point, taking Main Street slow.
Then she saw the lights on in one shop and settled her foot onto the brake.
Chapter Forty-One
Sam had promised Violet she wasn’t just another fling, but she didn’t believe him. He had also said Kaia was unimportant to him, but she didn’t believe that, either. Violet needed to know for sure. And she had a way to make him tell the truth. She just needed to find the jar of white chrysanthemums.
As she stood on a stool and reached for a jar atop the highest shelf her fingers found the cool glass, which kept slipping out of reach.
“Dammit!” Violet cursed and shifted her weight on the stool. Her foot slipped.
“Everything okay?” a soft, drawling voice said behind her.
Violet spun around on the step stool and lost her balance. All she saw as she toppled to the floor was a wild head of bright red curls flying toward her. She landed partially in Kaia’s arms, partially on top of her as they both fell to the
floor. Kaia made a little oof! as they landed, then began to disentangle herself.
“You all right?” she asked, brushing a springy curl from her eyes.
Violet felt a splinter lodge itself into the palm of her right hand where she had jammed it into the old floorboards, its sting a physical reminder of the pain Kaia Foley had caused her heart. She sat cross-legged and pinched at the splinter, using her fingernails to push it out of her flesh. She hissed as the narrow needle of wood surfaced from her skin and pushed out a bead of scarlet with it.
“I’m sorry for startling you,” Kaia said.
“Oh, I think I was going to fall either way,” Violet replied, dryly.
Kaia smiled a wide, sincere smile. She shrugged. “You seemed pretty focused on finding whatever it was you were looking for up there. Guess you didn’t hear me come in.”
Kaia stood, dusted off her bottom, and grabbed a deer antler sitting on a display table. She climbed the step stool and hooked the antler around the jar, using it to pull the jar closer to the edge of the shelf. She hopped off the stool and gave the jar to Violet.
Violet pulled herself to her feet and set the chrysanthemum jar down on the front counter. Turning to face Kaia, she put on a smile and stepped toward her, running her fingers across her soft, peachy, freckled cheek.
“I love the light of snow, don’t you?” Violet said, eyes taking in Kaia’s face as she touched it.
Such an open, innocent expression. It was no wonder Sam wanted her, if she was being honest with herself. Violet’s anguish drew in on itself like a great wave gathering before the rush to shore. If she was to win, she had to play from multiple angles. Bewitching Sam wasn’t enough.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea! There’s nowhere to go, nothing to do,” Violet said as her thumb traced the curve of Kaia’s cheek. “What do you say we do that photoshoot for my website?”
Chapter Forty-Two
Kaia didn’t want to go back to Foley’s Point. She didn’t want to think about letting go of the house. She didn’t want to think about what she’d do with a million dollars. And she definitely didn’t want to think about the siren she might have killed.
“Sure,” she said to Violet, trying not to pull away from her touch too obviously. Some people were just touchers, she told herself, though for some reason she wouldn’t have imagined Violet to be one. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”
Violet smiled, seeming delighted. “Great. Let’s go upstairs. The light’s better up there and that’s where I keep my inventory.”
After Violet locked the front door, Kaia followed her up the narrow, dark stairs at the back of the shop. Tall windows on either end of the building let the soft, grayish light of the snowy afternoon into the open room. A long table sat in the center, scattered with chemistry vials and vessels. A crazy bronze contraption that looked like a miniature whiskey still sat at one end.
“I use that to make my own essential oils,” Violet explained.
“That must be why it smells so amazing in here,” Kaia said.
The shelves were far less tidy than those downstairs, though they still appeared organized. Everything was labeled in neat, sweeping script—the kind of handwriting people had had a hundred years ago.
“I’m thinking we’ll do all of my tinted lip balms,” Violet said in her low, smoky voice as she set a handful of things down on the table. “And the mineral highlighter.”
Kaia busied herself admiring the workshop as Violet laid out the cosmetics and got her camera set up.
“You must be so proud of your business,” Kaia said, sniffing a vial of rose oil. “Oh my God, that smells amazing.”
“Do you like that?” Violet asked. “I made that using wild roses I collected along the coast here. There’s nothing like them. Best-smelling roses in the world. I made my first perfume using that rose oil as the main note and all of my other perfumes have it as a base.”
“Wow,” Kaia said, impressed. She sat on the stool Violet had set out for her, beside the table. “And this is all you?” she asked. “I mean, it’s your business and you make all this stuff, on your own?”
“I have a few employees to help out in the store and my sister sometimes comes in to help me make big batches of stuff when I need her. But, for the most part, it’s just me.”
“You’re so independent,” Kaia said.
Violet lifted her perfect, arched brows. “I’ve learned it’s wisest to rely only on myself,” she said, and handed Kaia a face-wipe. “Just wipe off any oil and I’ll put on a moisturizer, then we can start.”
Kaia did as bidden and wiped her face with the cucumber-scented wipe. Violet began with combing her brows, then applied clear mascara.
“You sure you don’t want to use black?” Kaia asked skeptically. “My lashes are orange.”
“Yes, and I want to keep them that way,” Violet said as she leaned close and flicked the wand over Kaia’s lashes. “This’ll just make them look wet. Like you’ve just come out of the sea.”
Kaia swallowed as her heart started pounding. She gripped her thighs and told herself to calm the heck down. There was no way Violet knew. No way.
Violet applied the mineral highlighter on Kaia’s cheeks and eyelids next. Then she applied the first of the tinted lip balms, a bright coral color.
“That looks incredible on you,” Violet said as she offered Kaia a handheld mirror.
Kaia admired the color on her lips as Violet turned on her camera.
“Tell me something about yourself, Kaia,” Violet said, looking at her through the lens. “What do you think of our little town?”
Snap, snap, snap, went the shutter.
Kaia smiled.
Snap.
“It’s beautiful. The houses are all so old and charming. The shoreline is stunning,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like in summer.”
Snap.
Violet’s head popped up above the camera. “Summer?” she asked. “So you think you’re staying, then? Did you decide not to sell?”
Kaia’s smile fell. “No, actually. I put the house on the market this morning. I don’t know why I said summer. I—I don’t know what my plans are,” she stammered.
Violet approached with another wipe and removed the lip balm from Kaia’s lips, then applied the next color—a sheer, juicy magenta that smelled of ripe summer berries.
Behind the camera again, Violet asked, “You don’t seem overly eager to get back to… where is it you’re from?”
“Nashville,” Kaia replied. “Yeah, um, no. I’m not eager to go back. I… met someone here.”
Snap. Snap. Snap.
“Oh?” Violet’s voice was muffled behind the camera.
“Yeah, this guy, Sam. Sam Lowell?”
“Oh, Sam,” Violet said. “Lobster Sam.”
Snap.
“Yes,” Kaia replied, laughing. “Lobster Sam.”
“When did that start?” Violet asked.
“Pretty much the day I arrived,” Kaia said. That was the truth, if she was being honest. The energy between her and Sam had been obvious to her from the moment they had met. And now, knowing their connection had the power to make her feel good in ways she had never thought would be possible for her, she couldn’t imagine it ever ending between the two of them. “It’s only been a week but already I feel like… like he knows me better than anyone else ever has. I feel like I’ve finally found someone I could trust. Someone who wants to share himself with me, completely.”
Snap. Snap.
All business, Violet came around the tripod and wiped at Kaia’s lips. She was a little rough, and Kaia spun an eye up at her.
“Do you know Sam?” Kaia asked.
Chapter Forty-Three
All Violet had to do was gain Kaia’s trust. Ask her to the house. Give her wine with a few drops of the snapdragon and dogwood essence she had prepared, speak the Incanta Oblivio—and Sam would be gone from her head forever.
“Everybody knows everybody here in Quolobit
Harbor,” Violet answered, affecting a neutral tone with great effort.
Kaia was visibly tense. She knew there was someone else in Sam’s life. Knew she was the other woman. Bitch.
Violet applied the last of the tinted lip balm to Kaia’s full, disgustingly pouty lips. She pictured the things she did to Sam with those lips and wanted to slap Kaia. But that wouldn’t do. She must save her rage and her lust for Sam, and Sam alone.
“I have to warn you,” Violet began as she angled herself behind the camera again. “Sam Lowell has a reputation for being something of a lady-killer.”
“Oh, he’s told me.”
Violet paused before taking the shot. She watched Kaia’s expression for pain, jealousy, bitterness. The dumb bitch chuckled. Violet pressed down her finger and got the image of Kaia laughing and rolling her eyes, lips painted perfectly pink.
If she had any idea what Sam was up to with me and Emory two days ago, that grin would be wiped off her face for good.
Violet suppressed a smug smile as she pictured Sam, naked and sweating, pounding into her while pleasuring Emory at the same time. She recalled, with vivid clarity, the sensation of him through their shared consciousness. It was better than anything she’d ever experienced. She only regretted not having thought of sharing him with her split half sooner.
“You must not be the jealous type,” Violet said, and snapped another picture.
“Me? No,” Kaia replied. “And anyway, why would I be jealous of the women he was with before me?” A brief sadness passed over her face. “People are going to love who they’re going to love, and no amount of wishing otherwise will make it different.”
Love. Had she really just used that word?
“Do you think Sam loves you?” Violet asked, biting back a sardonic laugh as she took another photo.
Kaia’s lashes brushed over her cheeks, hiding her soft blue eyes. “I think so,” she said, like it was a prayer. “And I think I love him back.”
Violet removed the camera from the tripod and turned her back to Kaia as she scanned through the photos. She needed to change tack. Casting a forgetting spell on Kaia might not be enough, if she already believed there was love between them.
