Page 19 of Clarity
"Oh, so this is… what, an icebreaker exercise?" I asked.
"I guess so, since you decided to make shit awkward."
My head reared back. "How didImake shit awkward?" I questioned. "You showed up at my house stealing from me, right out the gate."
"I already told you I didn't steal it. I found it," he corrected. "I just happened to know what you were looking for."
"Because you were digging around in my head!" I accused.
And instead of an answer, he looked down, which was, of course, an answer.
"See what I mean?" I asked, and he huffed.
"You've hexed me like three times," he argued. “ButImade it awkward?”
"I hexed youonce!The first thing was just a little power pulse to get you away from me. And then I hexedmyselfonce. And Roseline was the one who put the trap on the shop door,” I defended. “It's not my fault she put it there, and it's not my fault you walked into it." I shrugged. "Don't blame me. Blame yourself."
"Whatever," he said. "Enough of the bullshit. You and I need to talk."
"So talk!” I crossed my arms.
Did I know full well what I wassupposedto be accomplishing right now, which was definitely not antagonizing him?
Of course I did.
But that wasn't the point.
My nature just wouldn't allow me to make things easy for him.
We may have been fated to be together, which, fine, I could accept because of what I would get in return. But that didn't mean I was going to do it without a fight.
“And before you start, just know… we can skip all the extra shit,” I told him, shrugging. “We both know what’s up.”
He raised an eyebrow. “We do?”
“Don’t we?” I countered, feeling much less certain about that than I had twenty seconds ago. “I…wow. I actuallydon’tknow what’s up with you. I know why I’m willing to do this, to bind myself to you. But… why are you?”
“Because it’s my birthright,” he answered immediately, taking a seat on a stone bench in front of his family mausoleum. “Foretold well before I was even here. We were each told—me and my brothers—on the eve of coming into our full powers, adulthood. The fulfillment of that destiny was framed as gaining a final missing piece. Back then… it sounded like some burden. Eternally bonded to a stranger sounded like hell. What if she was ugly? Boring? Hated sex? I made it a mission to either find my own ‘missing piece’, or live it up as much as I could before she was revealed, so I would at least have the memories, the experience,” he said, then scoffed. “Honestly… I believe I was making it worse. My brothers were content to let it happen naturally, not to seek anything out. While for me… themissing piecefelt like a gaping wound. Especially once I knew exactly where it was.”
My eyes went wide. “You mean… exactly whereIwas?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I saw you once… in your shop. I knew immediately what you were.”
“A witch?”
He smiled. “Yes, that too, but… what you wereto me.You were oblivious to it. Sellingsomething oldsto brides, hunting down people’s family heirlooms, all kinds of priceless treasures on display. You were a target. Somebody owed me money… they told me they were gonna get it fromyou.”
I shook my head. “I have a great security system, and a license to carry.”
“Neither of which would’ve made a difference withwhatwas targeting you. They wanted everything. Your money, your things, your body. Everything.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because I deal with lowlifes,” he chuckled. “Of all incomes, classes, human and inhuman alike. I’m very cultured, baby.”
I laughed. “Interesting way to put that. So… what, you told them to leave me alone? Offered to erase their debt to leave me alone?”
“I don’t erase debts, Larivye. I erasedthem.”