“I was considered to be something of an eligible bachelor at the time,” he said lightly, teasingly. Despite myself, I snorted.
“I’m hurt, Callie,” he gasped, adjusting his weight and mine so that he could hold a dramatic hand over his heart. I rolled my eyes at him, and he grinned down at me, holding my gaze with a power I wasn’t sure he knew he held. After a long moment, he continued.
“I was born to a wealthy family – thank goodness. I’m not sure how much you know about that time, but the city streets and the work houses stank.” He wrinkled his nose, and I raised my eyebrows at him. “Though my parents wanted little to do with me, I was glad of them. Fortune had favoured me, though I’d done nothing to earn it. I felt badly for the poor, but I was too caught up in my own dramas to pay them much heed.
“My time was spent in our country es
“Callie?” My name, sleep-worn and grumbled, sounded like a lifeline. My heart thudded loudly in my chest.“Dad. I – God, they’re there.” I turned to Cyrus and mouthed, “Where did you find me?”He squinted at me, deciphering my words, before mouthing back: “Below.” He added a jaunty point to the ground, and I shook my head at him, hoping I understood.There was nothing sleepy about my Dad’s voice. “It’s almost four in the morning. We thought you’d got carried away dining with your vampire beau. What happened?”Thank God they hadn’t come for me; thank God Cyrus had. But my lips stilled. Four in the morning? I squinted into the night, searching for a glimmer or peach or tangerine to mark the first rays of the rising sun. The midwinter sky was still dark, with not even the merest shade of pale blue to suggest
He was silent for a long time, as if weighing up a hundred different answers – all of them circling around the ugly truth. His fingers were still against mine, and he gazed with a blank expression out across the sea. The colours warped and fragmented as they deepened, pastel pinks and oranges blooming into resplendent, bright beams of rose and tangerine. Rather than watch Cyrus holding the muscles in his face taut – too taut, controlled – I too looked out at the shimmering water.Eventually, through tight lips, he spoke. “Yes.” It was as though the dam had burst with that single word. “Yes, I made you forget. It was a mistake – a mistake to take you on that date, knowing how desperately I wanted to be honest with you, and knowing the consequences of my honesty. I – Callie, I wanted to learn where you stood, without having to face the repercussions of my curiosity. I… apologise.” He swallowed any furthe
We lay back on the grass together, his arm slipping beneath my head and keeping me close. Idly, as I felt the gushing wave of life return to me, I traced the veins in his wrist, using the barest touch to follow them along his forearm and into the crook of his elbow, making up the path where they dipped from view.Then I traced the stars with that same pointed fingertip, watching as clouds as blue as his veins puffed across the sunrise, startlingly different to the hues of red and gold simmering atop the sea, but fitting all the same. They blurred together seamlessly, night and day, dark and sun.“Do you remember what I told you about Esther?” He asked quietly, his words a whispering breeze against the dawn.I did, now; now that he’d returned my memory to me. “Yes. The witch – right?”“That’s her.” He mused over his thoughts for a moment before con
My heart thrummed and pulsed with sheer joy at our closeness as we walked along the cliff’s edge. Mist shrouded the sea, but the red orb hanging low in the sky would burn it away as it rose. I would juggle the new, darker morality singing within me later.It had been childish to latch onto my Dads’ words as gospel, to readily believe their tales and their lore. It had nearly cost me my life. And, though my nerves jumped with every sweeping brush of Cyrus’s fingers across the back of my hand, which clutched his like a lifeline, I was still uneasy about telling them.I could now remember exactly how poorly I’d reacted to the truth. I knew that they would react similarly – after all, it had been their influence that had guided me to such hatred.I shoved the thought aside, and instead revelled in the touch of his skin against mine. His palms were smoother than mine – no callouses drummed
“Dad? Paps?” I shrugged off Cyrus’s coat, holding it close to my chest for a moment before hanging it on the rack. It looked out of place beside mine and my Dads’ familiar coats, long and dark and sweeping, carrying his arrogance with it even though it had long since left his body.“Callie? Oh – thank God.” Paps swarmed me, wrapping me tight in his arms before stepping back and patting me down, checking for any wounds. “You’re okay. Oh, you’re okay.”I grinned, one side of my mouth tugging up further than the other. “I’m okay.”“We were worried,” Dad said, his voice low and croaky. I wondered how much sleep either of them had got last night.“It – it didn’t exactly go to plan,” I mused, toeing off my boots.Paps raised an eyebrow. “You can say that again.&
The smile froze on my face. I wobbled, and stuck out a hand towards the counter to catch myself. The work surface was cool, and it pooled beneath my palm, making me shiver.I had to get her out. The humans here weren’t safe. I looked around, my breath hitching, counting heads and recognising familiar faces. I could see Dal, his broad face broken in two by a grin; I could see the Town Trio, tucked into a corner and gossiping noisily; I could see Tony, and Bill, and –My heart stopped. Sat at the counter, next to Alice, was Harper.I held my breath. I had to focus, had to think. But fear and exhaustion were swirling in my head, clawing at my brain and making it impossible to do anything more than stand and stare at the two of them.“You alright?” Grace caught me by the elbow and towed me into the back room, her eyebrows raised at me the whole way. I sagged against her,
I caught Grace by the elbow and steered her towards the back room. At the same time, I raised a theatrical hand to my forehead and puffed out my cheeks. It wasn’t hard to make myself feel woozy – the memories and lack of sleep from the night before did that for me.“I don’t feel well,” I said, careful not to ramp up the dramatics too much. Grace would sniff them out in a second. “Do you mind staying late for me today?”Her shoulders stiffened momentarily and then relaxed. “Is it – it’s because of Harper, isn’t it?”I sighed, looking longingly towards the shop floor. “Yes.”“I can’t believe he’d come in here with another woman,” Grace snapped, coaxing me closer. “Of course I’ll stay. I doubt I’ll even be needed – Sydney should be able to close on her own.” She peere
I tightened my hand around the makeshift stake. My blade felt utterly useless – a child’s toy – as she stroke a red-clawed hand down the side of Harper’s face. He cried out, the sound muffled, as he struggled futilely against his bonds.I steeled myself, refusing to give in to the haze of panic slithering through my veins. I’d had no chance against Alice; Harper had even less of one. I had to play this carefully. My mind raced through a hundred different ideas and plans, but none of them seemed good enough. None of them seemed like enough to save him.There was no bargain she would accept. The glint in her eyes told me that. There was only one way out of this, and in accepting what had to happen I was giving myself over to her power. For Harper, I would do it.I readied my stake and blade, pulling back into a defensive stance. I had to lull her into a false sense of security. Then again, I t