Gothicana

“I think you definitely should put an offer on the house, Dr. Kari,” she said and saw the relief on his face.

“I’m glad. My wife has been hoping for it. Thank you, Miss Clemm.”

“My pleasure, professor.”

Dr. Kari went on his way and Corvina kept shuffling as the skies darkened more.

“I have a question, Miss Clemm,” the deep gravel voice made her insides clench as she looked up into his eyes. “If you’d be so kind to pull a card for me?”

“Of course, Mr. Deverell,” she gave him a deliberate smile, one that he knew, one he’d seen on her face many times in bed. “What is it about?”

He pushed his hands in his pockets, tilting his head to the side. “A woman I’m in love with.”

Her heart stopped.

So did her hands.

She heard the gasps of the students around her, shocked that he of all people would say something like that, feel something like that.

Corvina felt the eyes swing to her and barely controlled her face, shuffling the cards again in hands that trembled slightly, her insides breaking apart and fusing together as he watched her with all the ferocity on his face.

“What about her?” Corvina swallowed, her voice thankfully steady even as her insides were a riot.

“I’d like to know if she feels the same,” he declared, never taking his eyes off her. Had they been alone, Corvina would have pushed him to the ground and ripped his clothes off. The intense concoction of arousal, emotion, and something so inexplicable pulsed inside her veins, her eyes wanting to tear up and her lips wanting to grin, her chest heaving with breathlessness and her heart pounding with overstimulation. A hush fell on the crowd as they waited for the card.

Corvina shuffled, knowing the card would be her response, would be everything she felt but couldn’t say at the time. She needed him to know it, with the sky and the sun and the soil as their witness.

A card fell out.

With shaking hands, she picked it up, her lips trembling, and turned it towards him.

Two of Cups.

The card of love exchanged, co

“She feels the same, Mr. Deverell,” Corvina caught his blazing eyes. “She feels exactly the same.”

He would have kissed her then.

She saw it in his eyes, that fierce look he wore right before he tipped her chin and tasted her mouth. But he stilled, staying rooted to the spot, his hands clenching and unclenching in his pockets she could see.

It was one of the most profound, intense moments of her life, shared just between the two of them in the middle of a crowd. 

“That’s relieving,” he remarked, before giving her another heated look and walking off.

Corvina sat there in the grass, her world tilting yet again on its axis at his casual declaration, a smile on her face, she watched him go.