“I heard something about a pool party,” he said.
She looked up at him. “Are you joining?”
“Me? Swim? I don’t swim. I leave that you.” He winked at her. “But I’ll gladly watch. I’ll even help you into your swimsuit.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes for the hundredth time tonight. I signed, Get a room.
My brother smirked. “Oh, we already have one.”
Cat blushed but smiled as she let him pull her off the stool toward the other master bedroom in the suite. I marched out onto the terrace for fresh air. Silas had left earlier with two of the guards. The other three had returned with us. One stood by the front door while the other two had retaken their spots on either end of the terrace. The only person who hadn’t returned from the club was Kajika. He was probably too busy autographing some girl’s ass.
After I’d left the VIP area, I hadn’t sought him out, and since I couldn’t hear him, out of sight, out of mind. I tossed my glass water bottle into the trash, then headed to my bedroom to change into my bathing suit—a black mesh one-piece that I’d purchased because it was hot, but hadn’t expected to wear in front of anyone.
I slid my patio door open and walked out onto the terrace, but squeaked as I passed through my sash window. Kajika was sitting at the small table, drinking from a bottle of Coke, staring out into the night.
I hope you didn’t bring home any of your new groupies.
He slanted his gaze toward me. “You’re talking to me again.”
I shoved back a growl and started toward the pool, but he caught my wrist and reeled me back. I slammed my palm against the table to avoid tipping over.
“Sit.”
I snatched my hand back. What part of I’m no longer talking to you did you not get?
“Every part of it,” he said in a low voice.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Please, sit.”
I rubbed my wrist, still feeling the sting of his steely grip. His gaze dropped to the skin I was nursing, and a nerve ticked in his jaw.
“Did I hurt you?”
Yes.
“Let me see your wrist.”
I’m not talking about my wrist.
He let out a deep sigh and scrubbed his palms against the sides of his face. And then he focused those dark, glinting eyes of his on me. “I will not say I am sorry, because it would be a lie, and I am not a liar.”
I snorted.
He watched my nostrils flare, and then his gaze slid down my neck, over my collarbone, chest, waist, legs. Never had someone’s attention made me feel so completely naked. I knotted my arms in front of my chest.
“You are right. I did lie about one thing.”
He hunched over and rested his forearms on his knees that were spread apart. He fingered the multiple strands of brown leather wrapped around one of his wrists. Each string was threaded through with an opal. He spun one of the beads. Even in the darkness, the milky stone’s neon veins flashed.
He peered up at me through his rebellious locks of black hair. “Do you want to know what I lied to you about?”
No.
To my left, Cass cannonballed into the pool, sloshing water everywhere. The few drops that landed on me steamed off slowly. Thankfully the patch of darkness in which I still stood—skies only knew why—veiled my body’s reaction to the water.
“I lied about the opal. No one attacked me.”
I frowned, but then smoothed out my features and turned my head toward the pool just as Faith dove in. I didn’t want to look interested in anything he was saying.
“I did it to myself.”
Like an elastic, my gaze snapped back to his. Why would you do that?
“Why do you think?”
You were trying to kill yourself?
One side of his mouth kicked up, and he sat back. “Gejaiwe, I wish that had been my reason.” He looked off to the side toward Matthias, who was standing a couple feet away, staring at the pool where Cass was trying to fix Faith’s runny mascara.
Why did you do it then?
Slowly, Kajika turned his gaze back to mine. “So you would never again look upon me the way you did in the Daneelie camp.”
A breath rushed up my throat.
“It is the only thing I have ever lied to you about though, Lily.”
My heart felt as though it were being licked by the flames underneath my skin. It wasn’t fair. He wasn’t allowed to confess stuff like this to me. Not now. It toyed with my emotions, and he had no right to toy with me. He’d lost that right when he’d betrayed me.
Faith and Cass called out my name.
“You can push me away,” Kajika’s voice was so faint I thought I was imagining it, “but I will not leave until you are cured. After, if you still want nothing to do with me, I will step out of your life.”
His words chafed my already aching heart. Stay away from me, I whispered, and then I raced to the pool and dove in to hide the tears already gathering in the corners of my eyes.
35
Glimmer
When I burst out of the water, I remembered I was wearing human makeup and rubbed forcefully at my cheeks. Sure enough black streaks stuck to the pads of my fingers.
“Here, let me help,” Cass said, scouring my skin with her thumbs. Then she pushed her wet bangs out of her eyes and tipped her head to the side. “Are you crying, hun?”
I shook my head.
“You are.”
I ducked my head back under the water and stayed until the edges of my vision began to scramble like those boxy, human TVs from my youth. I needed to get my emotions under control. But how could I? I felt like one of the hunter’s boxing opponents—cornered and beaten. Why did he have to deliver his stupid confession tonight?
Cruel.
It was cruel.
He was cruel.
And stupid.
Who tries to poison himself to change his nature?
A desperate man. That’s who. Kajika was desperate, stupid, and cruel. Oh, and impolite. Skies, he was impolite. Who the hell stayed after they were shown the door? Only someone who hadn’t been raised with any manners.
Air bubbles snaked out of my mouth. I heard Cass asking Faith if she should tug me up.
He’d had no right to slap me with his confession and make me look like the cruel, heartless one. Unlike him, I had a heart, and he’d squashed it.
Cass scooped me up. “Lily?” Her eyes flashed wildly over my face. “Are you training for some freediving competition?”
In my peripheral vision, I made out Kajika’s form. He was still sitting at the table in front of my bedroom. He better not be thinking of sitting out there all night.
“Finally! The bride!” Faith whooped.
“Sorry, girls. I was just placing an order for mini burgers and milkshakes.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
Cat smiled and shook her head, her long locks brushing over the one-shouldered strap of her red bathing suit. It wasn’t one of mine, so I assumed she’d somehow bought it at some twenty-four-seven swimwear shop.
Cass finally stopped looking at me like I was suffering from apnea-related symptoms. “Oh my God, I love you! I. Am. Starving.”
“I, on the other hand, hate you,” Faith said. “I’m supposed to be on a diet.”
“You can diet tomorrow.” Cat whipped her arms over her head and dove in. As she hit the water, I thought of her skin, how it would glimmer. Even though Cass’s faerie sight was nil, I’d remarked that Faith could see things she shouldn’t have been able to.
I turned toward my brother, who’d just come out onto the terrace. He hadn’t changed out of his clothes, but his shirt was rumpled and his hair mussed up. I signed, Her skin.
He pursed his lips and waited for Cat to emerge. When she surfaced, and her gaze locked on his, understanding washed over her. She touched her cheeks. They definitely sparkled, but nothing she couldn’t pass off as the effect of glittery, waterproof makeup, especially in
the muted lighting.
I made the OK sign with my fingers, and she exhaled a breath that rippled the water.
“Can someone put some music on?” Cass asked.
Ace nodded to one of the guards and then strolled toward Kajika. Were they friends now? The irony of it made me grip the watery edge of the pool and squeeze it hard. When the speakers erupted with music, I shoved all thoughts of Kajika out of my skull.
“Are none of the guys coming in?” Cass asked, pouting.
“Maybe later,” Cat lied.
They wouldn’t be joining us. The guards were on duty. My brother, whose fire burned hot, would look like a steamer. And Kajika wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed splashing around, unless there was a Daneelie to strangle or a misbehaving faerie to stake.
“I know what we need.” Cass heaved herself out of the pool and dripped water through the glowing living room.
She came back with an armful of mini liquor bottles, several packs of candy, and the vase that had adorned the bar until moments ago. She dumped the bottles and candy packs by the edge of the pool, then walked toward the railing, set the vase down.
After she’d hopped back into the water, she divided the packs of candy between the four of us, then instructed us to open them. “No eating,” she admonished Cat, who’d chucked an M&M inside her mouth. “So now, for the rules. Remember the fish bowl toss at the fair?”
“The one you won every summer?” Faith said.
Cass nodded enthusiastically. “Same thing, except if you miss, you take a sip. Easy-peasy.”
“This cannot end well,” Faith mumbled, but there was a definite lilt to her tone. “If Remo gets alcohol poisoning tomorrow, it’s all on you, cuz.”
Cassidy snickered. “Cat’s the bride, so she gets to start.”
“Lucky me.” Cat tossed first. Her M&M hit the rim and pinged off the vase. She drank.
They made me go next. My shot went wide too. Cass got hers in. Faith did not. By round ten, I’d had ten sips of various alcohols. They were all starting to blur on my tongue, so skies only knew what I was ingesting. Faith had had eight. Cat six, and Cassidy was only on her third.
When Cassidy’s jelly bean sank in for the eighth time, Faith shook her head. “I’m starting to think you secretly practice at the bakery instead of serving customers.”
“How do you think I get cupcakes onto plates?” Cass laughed. “She tosses; she scores!”
Faith snickered. “Careful, the boss might just toss you out.”
Cass pinched Faith’s thigh and they both giggled.
Cat was up again. She got hers in. Mine did not go in. It didn’t even hit the vase. It just arched right off the terrace railing.
“You girls better stop before my sister kills someone,” Ace said.
“Imagine that.” Faith smirked. “Death by M&M.”
Sure, we were sixty floors up, but could a falling piece of candy really kill someone? It would probably hurt. Worried, I jumped out of the pool and traipsed toward the plexiglass railing. Thankfully, this side of the terrace gave onto a deserted courtyard, and no one was lying unconscious.
A towel settled over my shoulders. Then Ace leaned his hip against the railing and said in Faeli, “Even though it reassures me to see your fire at work, Faith’s looking.”
I peered over my shoulder and sure enough, Faith was staring at my hair, one tawny eyebrow hiked up. She’ll blame the alcohol for making her see things.
“Perhaps. She’ll find out soon enough, though. I promised Gregor he could speak to her at our wedding.”
Oh. That would be soon. I’ve been meaning to ask…the storm: Earth or Daneelie-made?
Ace turned toward his wife, sticking his elbows on the thick plexiglass rim. “What do you think?”
I watched Cat sip a creamy white milkshake through a pink-striped paper straw, then laugh as Cassidy stuffed an entire burger inside her mouth.
I think you’re lucky it’s almost winter so people don’t question the weather too much.
“Smart girl.”
Of course, the storm made me think of the other one raging through my life. Did they find the dile?
Ace nodded. Even though he was still speaking Faeli, he lowered his voice, “Silas will return once they’ve harvested enough poison. Should be sometime today…tomorrow at the latest.”
I suddenly abhorred my idea of using poison. What if they dosed it wrong? What if—
Sensing my inner turmoil, Ace laid a hand on my arm. “Don’t start stressing. We’ll have an entire team of people monitoring Cruz.”
I gulped, but my saliva felt like it had turned to cement. I touched my throat. I was going to throw up. Cold sweat broke out over my upper lip. I dropped to my knees just as the first wave of vomit surged up my throat. I hunched over the vase. My thankfully still wet hair clung to my shoulders instead of tangling with the vomit.
Even though the mere thought of alcohol made me want to weep, I was glad I’d downed copious amounts. At least the girls would think my drinking was the reason for being sick.
I threw up for what felt like a Neverrian hour. It probably didn’t last more than an Earthly minute. When I was done, I picked up the vase to go wash it out, but Ace said, “Leave it, Lily. Get yourself to bed.”
The girls crowded me. Cat insisted on helping me walk back to my bedroom. Light-headed, I leaned on her. I was acutely aware of Kajika’s watchful gaze. I bet he also thought I’d drunk too much.
The man was such a puritan. Ugh.
Whatever.
It wasn’t as though I cared what he thought of me. It couldn’t possibly be worse than what I thought of him. Cruel, stupid, desperate, and ill-mannered man. I stared at him while those words reeled through my mind, drilling each one of them through the dark air between us.
Cat forced me into a shower, then helped me strip off my bathing suit and squirted soap into my hands. I let the first handful slip between my fingers like sand. She didn’t try to give me more soap. I turned my face toward the shower head and opened my mouth, letting the water whisk away the vile taste inside my mouth.
The water turned off suddenly, and I shivered. Cat wrapped a new towel around me and then she dropped a silk slip over my head and led me to bed.
“I’ll get you some water,” she said, tucking the duvet around my shoulders.
I watched her leave through my open patio door. She hadn’t closed my curtains, so I could see Kajika’s broad back, his stiff neck, his fluttering black hair.
Obstinate. I added that to the long list of terrible things he was. A tendon pinched in his neck.
I turned around and fixed my gaze on the beige wall. Shadows drifted over it. Slowly those shadows materialized into a person.
Cruz stood before me, his mouth pressed into a soft line, his green eyes gleaming like the emerald earrings my mother had given me for my fiftieth birthday.
I sprang out of bed and went to him.
36
My Beauty
I reached up to touch his jaw. His bones seemed to grind underneath my palm, realigning into another jaw. Brown bled across the green of his irises, and tattoos rose to the surface of his skin.
“Goodbye, Lily.”
A gust of wind blew around us, flicked Kajika’s black hair, freed it from his scalp. I gasped and snatched my hand back. It was coated with bits of skin and stubble. I raised horrified eyes back to his face.
This isn’t supposed to happen to you. You’re not supposed to die.
“But you are?” Another gust of wind filed away his nose. He prodded the exposed bone.
I pressed my knuckles against my mouth. NO! No. This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. Kajika, you can’t die. You can’t leave me.
“Isn’t that what you wanted?”
More skin peeled off his high cheekbones, and then he burst into black glitter. I gagged as it rained into my mouth.
No. No! NO! Kajika!
The floor swayed, then rushed up to meet my body. My cheek
hit the soft carpet. I kept my lids shut as I lay there, absorbing the steady pulse of the floor.
Pulse? Carpets didn’t have heartbeats.
My eyes jerked open, and I tried to move but the floor pinned me against it.
Not the floor.
Arms.
I squirmed to crane my neck. A face as dark as the air in my bedroom was angled toward mine.
“It was just a nightmare, Lily,” Kajika’s low voice rumbled through me. “I will not leave you.”
The dream flickered through my mind, and a new wave of terror licked my spine. I shuddered, and then I pressed my palms into his chest and shoved. I was dreaming of Cruz.
The hunter’s body tightened, and then he dipped his head and crossed his arms. “Then why did you scream my name?”
I didn’t.
“You did.”
Did not. I raked my hand through my hair. Get over yourself, Kajika. It was just a stupid dream.
A tendon shifted in the hunter’s corded neck. “You really want me to leave then?”
I crossed my arms to stop them from trembling. Like you’d actually do what I ask, I muttered into his mind.
His nostrils pulsed, and then his long legs ate up the carpet toward the open glass doors.
He was leaving… Really leaving… The temperature dropped so suddenly that the tremors that had started in my arms spread to the rest of my body.
My knees gave way, and I dropped to the floor. I leaned against the leather-covered box spring, feeling the hard frame of it dig into my spine.
What had I done now?
My teeth chattered, and I hugged myself harder.
When the front door slammed shut, a sob escaped my trembling lips. I hunched over my knees and pressed my burning eyes into the sharp bones to stanch the flow of tears. I’d blamed and criticized the hunter, but it hadn’t been his fault.
None of it had been his fault.
All mine.
I was the selfish one.
The cruel one.
The stupid one.
The air shifted, and then arms bundled me up and set me on the bed. I pried my lids up, expecting to see one of the faerie guards, or my brother.
Raging Rival Hearts Page 21
