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We continue around the dwindling fire and past the garden shrubs and colosseum monuments that round the extension of the house. The pool is extravagant, with a separate lounging area that sits right at the center of it. To get there, you have to take a couple steps down and walk around the edge of the pool. There’s a small fire pit in the middle of that lounging area, too, and on the other side of it inside the pool, a small bar.
“To answer your question, yes and no,” Sam says, and I don’t miss the way his pace slows when we hit the outside entry of the greenhouse. For some reason, I thought he wanted to go to the Garden of Eden, not the greenhouse. “Yes, because I wanted to check on you before tomorrow night. What with the opening and seeing him again—”
I pause, crossing my arms over my chest. Over the past two weeks I have been here, no one has said his name out loud. No one. I haven’t even thought of it. “Who told you about that?” Bet it was Frankie.
Sam cocks his head. To anyone else, it would probably look charming, but the truth is, he isn’t attractive to me. One day I might be ready to love again. But under no means will I force it. I found out something very quickly. My heartbeat isn’t silent. I can’t shut it off by will, or even by the most excruciating emotional pain I ever thought was possible. It will continue to beat, even with a crack all the way through it. Only now, it bleeds, too.
“Veronica. She didn’t tell me everything, just a quick rundown of why you might be a little on edge tomorrow and that I should be there for you.” He steps closer, and my blood turns to ice as his hand begins moving up to my face. I recoil away from it. He pauses, his hand now frozen in mid-air. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right.” I step around him, picking up the watering can and feeding some of the drier plants. “It’s just I would have told you had I wanted you to know.” I place the can down, turning to face him with a fake smile, but as soon as my eyes are on his, I’m falling to the ground. Everything turns black and my head screams in pain…
“Ahhh, the carnage, my dear Saint. How we meet again. Were you worried that I had left you?” I asked her, my back turned. This time I decided to keep her in the greenroom. The place she found the most solace. “Learning more about you these past few months has been one of the most—hmmm, what is the right word?” I paused, the smile on my face too bold for even myself to admit. “Euphoric. Drug-like? An addiction?” I kept my hands buried in my pockets. I didn’t need to turn around for her to know what I looked like. Her lover. Her dreamer. If only she knew the lies she had been fed. If only… though she never will. I have tried to feed off as much as I can. I can’t do anymore. I finally turned to face her. She was standing behind me, her eyes fixed everywhere but on me. She couldn’t face him. She couldn’t or wouldn’t. She was hurt. Good. I needed her pain. She would be smarter with pain. Humans always were. “Look at me, Saint.”
She didn’t move.
I shot forward so fast, my face nearly colliding with hers. “Look at me!” I roared so loud her hair blew around the frame of her face and her eyes squeezed clos—
I shoot up from the ground, my cheeks damp and a scream so brutal tearing from my throat that I think it might cut it open.
“Hey! Hey!” Samael wraps his arms around me, rocking me back and forth. “You’re here. You’re back. It’s fine.” For the minute, I rest into his embrace, desperate for anything to keep me anchored in this world and not inside my head. “You’re here. Back. It’s fine.” Minutes pass. Seconds. When his arms become heavy and his presence thick, I push away from him and slowly stammer to my feet.
“Sorry…” I murmur, swiping my hair from my face. “I’ve got to go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.” I spin around and make my way back to my bedroom as fast as I can. That was too much. Too fast, too dark, and too much. Whoever it is entering my head is evil. Their presence feels too hostile this time, yet leaves a taste of despair on the tip of my tongue.
I slam my bedroom door closed and lock it, not wanting to face Ophelia and Ivy tonight. If I’m going to see Brantley tomorrow, I need my sleep. I need enough energy to see him again.