Page 62 of Avaritia
I gave Leticia a tight smile, hating how helpless I felt. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Oh, there was also a bit of a mix-up with your things,” Leticia added apologetically. “This was misplaced, I just spotted it earlier.”
She unfurled something from the pocket of her scrubs, holding it up for me to see. A long, thin silver chain dangled from her hand, the inky black ball of darkness held in a filigree cage swinging like a pendulum. I didn’t think. I didn’t hesitate. I just snatched it out of her grasp instantly, all but cradling it to my chest.
“It’s very pretty,” Leticia murmured. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
I made some kind of sound of agreement, blinking back a sudden rush of tears, running my thumb over the filigree casing that housed the small glass orb. It looked different in this realm, unless my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Which, you know, head injury. So maybe.
But I was sure it hadn’t been so… active when Theon had shown it to me.
“Was it a gift from your fiancé?”
“What?” I blinked up at her. “Oh. Um, sure. Yeah.”
She hummed, watching me a little too closely. “You know, Verity, if there’s anything you’d like to talk about, I’m always here.”
Maybe my amnesia act wasn’t totally working on the actual medical professional. Leticia and Doctor Torres seemed nice, but the reach of the Hunters was long and their pockets were deep. I couldn’t trust that they wouldn’t report back if I asked for help.
God, it was tempting though. I wasn’t someone who thrived on my own. I, much like an infant, needed a village to support me. The past few days had been fucking terrifying.
“Think about it,” Leticia said with a kind smile. She let the subject drop as she went through her routine checks, keeping the conversation light while she inspected the splint on my arm before excusing herself from the room.
Sebastian’s charming laugh echoed down the hall as he made small talk with the nurses, and I realized with a jolt that I still had the necklace in my hand. This stupid dress had no pockets, and if Sebastian saw the chain around my neck, he’d definitely want to know what it was and where I got it.
Panicking slightly, I shoved it down my dress, tucking it into the bottom of my bra cup, hoping the boob squish would hide any lumps. My eyes watered slightly at the feeling of the metal digging into my flesh, but at least it was hidden.
“There you are, Eri,” Sebastian said, spreading his arms wide as he entered the room, giving me a magnanimous smile. “You look… lovely. Perhaps you could tie your hair up? Ah, never mind. We can deal with it later. Let’s get out of here, hm?”
I exhaled heavily, giving him what I hoped was a convincing smile.
As sorry for myself as I was feeling, this wasn’t the time to indulge my own self-pity. Now was the time to channel my inner Astrid and think strategically about how I was going to get the hell out of here.
The tears would have to wait a little longer.
“I thought we were going home?” My heart started pounding uncomfortably fast in my chest as Sebastian pulled the rental car up to the swirly gates of an absurdly large mansion. This wasn’t the airport. We were meant to be going back to Denver. That’s what he’d said.
He shot me a reassuring smile that looked a little strained around the edges as he lowered the window to reach the buzzer. “Just a quick pit stop on the way. A lot of the Council flew in because they were so worried about you, Eri. The least we can do is say hello, don’t you think?”
The rebuke in his voice was clear. Not wanting to risk messing up now, I shrank down in my seat, giving him the small, hesitant nod of agreement he was searching for. I alarmed myself with how easily I was able to slip back into that version of me from ten years ago. I hated that I’d ever forced myself to be so small so that Sebastian could take up all of the space for both of us.
The journey from who I’d been then to who I was now hadn’t necessarily been one of conscious, intentional change. It had just been one day of freedom at a time. One day of not having to hide what I’d always considered the ugly parts of myself at a time. And with each day that passed, the guilt and shame I’d always carried around lessened until it was just a distant memory.
That fateful afternoon in my bedroom, Deb had told me I was broken, but now I was banishing her proclamation from my mind for good. I wasn’t fundamentally broken—no one was—and I deserved love. I deserved to be loved, with all of my oddities, and my too-loud voice, and my sometimes inappropriate jokes.
I wanted that someone who loved me to be Theon. And I wanted to be the someone who loved him. Who showed him that there was good in the world he’d been avoiding for so long. Who encouraged his incredible experiments, and ate lunch with him each day, and kept him strong and healthy with the power I gave him.
And Theon wasn’t the only reason I needed to get home. The house was too big for Wilder and Aderith to manage alone. I wanted to take on some of their workload, make the manor a nicer place for all of us to live. I wanted to spend more time with bright and cheery Xanthia, and find a way to win over Rainy.
I wasn’t broken. It had just taken me a while to realize that all the parts that made up who I was were pieces of an interesting puzzle, not a mess of unwanted scraps.
The gates opened, and we headed up the semicircular driveway that led to the elegant gray-brick colossus that we were apparently visiting. The driveway was packed with vehicles, and I arranged my face into something faintly apprehensive as Sebastian parked. I was going into the heart of the viper’s nest, I needed to have my wits about me. If ever I needed to be underestimated, now was the time.
I wrapped my good arm around my middle, embracing the feeling of the necklace digging into my skin for a moment, anchoring me in reality. I didn’t belong here. This was no longer my world.
I was going to find my way into the dark, and Theon would come for me. The mating bond in my chest was muffled, but it was there. He would come for me.