Page 52

Once my questions slowed, Viggo's began but they were more in-depth compared to mine. He wanted to know how I felt, he wanted me to tell him about my nightmares, which I really didn't want to talk about, and what I was keeping from him and everyone else.

There was much, but I didn't actually tell him any of it because I didn't want to show him my full crazy yet.

That's second-date material!

"What happened at the Healing Center?" Viggo asked. "Before the earthquake."

That question I could tell had been biting at his tongue for a while.

Here goes nothing.

"I was trying to reserve my full crazy for our second date," I warned. "And you'll think I'm crazy."

"Acknowledged, and just so you know, I will never think you are crazy. You are merely complicated and with an unimaginable burden to bear."

I made a mocking face.

Viggo rolled to his side so he was propped up on his elbow and he looked at me.

I closed my eyes because if I looked at him, I would start tearing up.

"We were alone down there, but we weren't. Across the room I saw a female standing there, but she wasn't there when I joined you. I thought it was an eidolon, or with my lack of luck a wraith that was going to finish what the other started, and it could have been, but whatever it was, without question, was otherworldly," I tried to explain. "The female looked between us and the mud pools and started pointing at them. Then she started to get irritated because I didn't understand what she was trying to say, and she stomped her foot as if trying to iterate it. It was mildly amusing considering I was naked and scarred up, and you were rubbing me down with salve and blowing on me."

Viggo softly chuckled, causing me to open my eyes to regard him. "Mother would do that when the kids were not listening to her or moving fast enough for her liking. What about the entryway?"

"That was her as well, I think," I said, admiring the way the rainbows of light moved across his pale face. "Something tugged at me, telling me I needed to get to the protection of the archway. After I figured out what she was saying about the mud pools, she pointed to the archway as if telling me to listen to what I was feeling. I have to say though, she looked a bit disappointed in our scandalous position. You know, me naked and not even bothering to hold a towel up, you blowing on my neck, which I rather enjoyed."

I expected to get an eye roll or shake of his head, instead, Viggo's complexion went chalky white.

"What did she look like?" he whispered.

"Long black hair, full lips, dark olive skin, light jade-green eyes, tall and curvy," I said. "She looked a bit like your aunt now that I think about it... Oh crap."

"That is an understatement."

"Your mother?" I surmised.

Viggo rolled to his back and looked at the ceiling. "So, it would seem."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know otherwise I would have said something sooner," I promised. "She saved our lives."

Before I realized what I was doing, I was stretching out alongside him and pulled his arm around me so I could rest my head on his chest.

"Althea was very beautiful," I whispered.

"Not nearly as lovely as you," he said as a tear escaped from his eye, and he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against his chest. "Not nearly as lovely as you," he said again, and it was accompanied by another tear.

There was so much more to say after that, but neither of us said anything.

The silence and company were nearly too perfect to ruin with words, apologies, and doubts about what we were feeling for the other...

Or the fact we had a chaperone from beyond the grave that Viggo didn't see but I had, and it was very evident that she did not approve of me or our scandalous position.

There were so many more questions that needed to be asked.

But neither of us could find the strength to ask them now.

The moment I closed my eyes, they were opening again when bright light pouring in through the windows woke me. I knew Viggo was gone, so I didn't bother to pat around on the bed for him, instead, I pulled the pillow he had used into me, hugged it to my chest, and cried.

Last night was bittersweet; I learned so much about Viggo, that it made me want him even more, but my heart was breaking because I couldn't remember anything about him from the past.

Why can't we be together until his marriage? It is very homewrecker and whorish, but I am feeling selfish for the first time in my life.

I want him.

I don't deserve him, but I need him, even if it's just measurable in weeks, months, or a few years.

I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything before.

Last night I didn't have the nerve to ask him if that was an option. I'm sure that he would have said no and that it wasn't honorable.

That was his usual response.

Viggo expertly danced around the questions he didn't want to answer, and he expertly evaded my attempts at getting information about what he was keeping from me, but at least he didn't lie to me.

That was the one thing he promised he would never do: lie to me.

Zane knocked before him and the other two entered without an invitation.

My bed wasn't nearly big enough for all of us, but we made it work.

"So how was your night?" Slevin teasingly sang, well aware that I had company last night.

"It was Shakespearian in every way possible," I admitted, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"Please tell me you didn't bone him," Zane groaned before covering his head with a pillow. "Sis, I asked you to stay away from him."

Harper shook his head. "Can someone say bloody hypocrite?" he retorted. "You have slept your way through nearly every class of bonny birds at the Academy in only a handful of days. That, without question, has to be a new record."

"That is not the point," Zane said. "And that is not exactly what I've been doing. It's completely acceptable to entertain myself with Sixth House and under lonely ladies and Wights," he argued. "As I learned at the Blood Brothel, sometimes they just want someone to listen to them talk and they pay handsomely for that. Ari, on the other hand, is playing hide the French sausage with a crowned asshole of one of the first Five Houses. Totally different and totally not acceptable. It makes me look bad!"

Yes, Zane would make it all about him as always.

"Even though it is none of your business, Zannie, no I didn't have sex with Viggo. He is promised to someone else and he doesn't want the complications," I whispered with a snivel.

None of them missed the defeat and irritation in my tone or the tears in my eyes.

"What's for lunch?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Harper kissed the back of my head then pulled me into him and hugged me tight. "You deserve someone that loves you, Love. You will find the right guy when the time is right."

I shook my head. "No, I won't. Viggo has loved me since I was a child; before he even drew breath, he just can't be with me."

Zane gave me a look, but the other two didn't seem surprised.

"Zannie, we used to vacation with them when we were children," I said. "But I don't remember. I remember his older brother Jean-Luc, but not Viggo or his sister."

Zane made a face. "Like ew. I remember Jean-Luc, he was a disgusting creature and surely the reason why we dislike Vampires as much as we do," he said, and I nodded my agreement.

"Okay, that's fair," I admitted.

Slevin smiled. "Tone and impression appreciated," he said. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I am truly honored."

Zane smiled wide. "His mother..." his words trailed off and he shook his head as if to clear it. "Tall, leggy, long black hair, full lips, and beautiful light jade-green eyes... No, that's the Madame, right? Why am I getting them confused?" he asked. "I don't forget things like that, especially legs and tits like that!"

Yeah, this isn't fun.

"Zannie, Madame Majandra is Viggo's aunt, his mother's baby sister. His mother was Althea and she was killed a few years ago... It was a very rough year for more than just me that year," I whispered.

Zane wiped away the tear that rolled down my cheek. "What do you mean? What year was it?"

"Start of our second year," I said. "Between you switching from the Mannin Academy to the Stockholm Academy because I kept having those weird dreams over the summer, and then Father going on that extended business trip for the Unified House in secret where no one could reach him, and... It was a rough year," I said, barely catching myself.

Harper softly growled.

Slevin dramatically sighed. "Yes, that was a rough year for everyone. What else did you all talk about?"

Sometimes I hate how well Slevin knows me.