“Unless they’ve been in, or are, in true love with someone else.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Falcon’s been in love before,” he stated.
“He has?”
Jase nodded once against the side of my face. “I read all of his thoughts—past and present—when he was laying in to me. He lost his fiancé, Felicity, a few years back.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Serious?”
“Yeah. He called her over to help him sort out an argument with his sister, Annie. But she stormed off in a hurry before Felicity got there, didn’t even check the road before crossing it. She hit Felicity’s windshield and the car swerved into oncoming traffic. . .” His lips pursed into a thin line. “Felicity got just the smallest knock to the head, but she died in hospital shortly after Annie.”
The scene played out in my head, probably pictured all wrong, but the grief that came with it was unmistakeable. “What was their fight about?”
His closed lips angled up on the edges into a smile. “She’d been with a boy Falcon didn’t approve of and . . . she got pregnant.”
I closed my eyes for a second. “That’s just so tragic.”
He nodded. “So, go easy on him. In a lot of ways, what he did to me wasn’t just for you—it was for Annie, too.”
I angled my head and kissed the side of his jaw. “I’m sorry he did that.”
“Well, you just made it all worth it.”
I laughed and lay my hands on his where he rested them over my belly.
***
Despite David hating his brother, thankfully, he hadn’t revoked his approval for the lab. Jase was ordering parts and pieces, and I was supposed to meet him in the field to demonstrate my new rock-blasting tricks at their best. But as I walked into the Great Hall, the round, shiny surface of a golden apple caught my eye, just sitting there on the dining table for anyone to find.
“How did you get out here?” I asked the apple, walking over.
“I put it there,” Eve said, flickering and waving suddenly in front of me like smoke.
“Why, Eve? Someone might see it. What are you playing at?”
“Needed to get your attention. You don’t see me so much anymore when I’m in the room.”
“I don’t?”
She shook her small head.
“Well, why did you need my attention?”
“Because I wanted you to see something,” she whispered, then reached across and flicked the apple onto the floor. It hit with a mighty thud, leaving a small dent in the wood.
“Really, Eve, was that necessary?” I bent down to pick it up, and two pairs of feet came charging into the room from under the stairway. I stayed put for a second, hoping they’d pass, otherwise it might look like I was hiding down here under the table, and I wasn’t about to show them the apple, either.
“Emily. Just—” Blade ran after her, spinning her around in one swift, knightly move. “Please don’t walk away from me.”
“What do you expect me to say, Blade?” she cried.
“Don’t say anything,” he said, and that accent made me wish for a second that he was talking to me. “Em, just let me hold you. Let me—”
“There’s nothing you can do to make this better. Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter what you feel for me. I’m damaged goods!”
“Aw, Em.” He rolled his head to one side. “You’re not to me.”
“How can you say that? How can you want me after what he just told you?”
His shoulders dropped and he looked down at the ground, then off to one side.
“See?”
“No. Em.” He grabbed her wrist. “You don’t understand. I’m not upset about that. I’m upset because I don’t know how to make you see that none of that matters to me.”
She stopped trying to pull away from him and just stood there. “You’re not . . . repulsed by me?”
Blade laughed. “You could sleep with Arthur and I wouldn’t be repulsed by you. It’s gonna take a lot more than sex with that creep to keep me from you. And, besides—” He braved another step closer. “You were human then, and it was a long time ago.”
“Not for me, it wasn’t. It feels like only yesterday.” She hugged herself, looking at her feet.
Blade wrapped both arms around her, his shoulders tense for the first few breaths until it became clear Emily wouldn’t push him away. “I’m sorry he did that to you, Em,” he whispered into her hair. “But he’s the fool. Not you.”
And now I was very curious about what Em had told him.
“Mike couldn’t look at me after,” she whimpered. “He said he still loved me but he just needed time to make sense of it all.”
I covered my mouth. That boy needed to read Relationships, for Dummies.
“I know that makes you feel like he doesn’t care about you, but they were friends—close friends. And he’s had to come to terms with this new David he’s seen rise as king, and then with all of this.” He squeezed her a bit tighter. “He doesn’t blame you. And he didn’t mean to tell me, either.”
“I know.” She nodded against his chest.
“Have you told Ara?”
Her head moved in a no. “I’ve never found the words.”
“To tell me what?” I asked, standing up then to make my presence known.
Emily spun around in Blade’s arms, her brown eyes going wide. “Ara.”
“Emily.” I moved a bit closer, stepping cautiously. Somehow, right now, I got the sense that I was the last person she wanted to see. “What were you talking about?”
“You were listening?” she yelled, jerking forward.
“I was passing by, and I. . .” I smirked at Blade. “I thought Blade was finally confessing his love for you. I just wanted to listen.”
“Living vicariously through me now, huh?” she said sarcastically.
“If you must know—” I propped both hands on my hips, checking under the table quickly to see if the apple was hidden enough. “Yes. And I’m sorry for that, but . . . I just wanted to see you happy. That’s all.”
Her dead-straight spine relaxed again, and Blade and I followed suit.
“So you knew he was in love with me, too?” she asked, jerking her head at Blade.
I couldn't help but smile.