Page 52 of Illusory (The Marked Saga #8)

When Dominic had said we were going to the movies, I’d expected a cozy back row seat at the local theatre with some popcorn and a couple of oversized drinks, but what I got instead was nothing short of magic.

Stepping out of his black Audi, my eyes narrowed as I took in the sprawling drive-in movie theater parking lot that stretched out beneath the night sky as far as my eyes could see. The lot was void of the usual crowd of vehicles and movie-goers and was completely empty other than the two of us.

Hundreds of twinkling string lights draped along the speaker poles, casting a soft, enchanting glow across the lot, leading all the way up to the large white screen that reached halfway up to the sky. Shivers broke out over my skin as I fought the urge to pinch myself, certain that I was somehow dreaming this.

“Happy birthday, angel,” murmured Dominic, his cool breath tickling my ear as he came up behind me.

“How?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I turned around to face him. “Where is everyone else?”

A small smile played at the corners of his lips. “It’s just going to be the two of us for tonight. I hope that won’t be a problem,” he added softly, taking my hand in his and knowing damn well that it wouldn’t be.

“Just us ?” I couldn’t have held back my smile even if I had tried. “How did you do this?”

“There isn’t much money cannot buy, and even then, compulsion works just as swiftly.”

“You compelled everyone away?” I asked, my voice filled with disbelief.

“Of course not.” His dark eyes glinted under the moonlight as another cunning smile quirked his lips up. “I compelled some of them to guard the perimeter as well.”

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be mad about that part, but I was too busy being head over heels in love with him. “You didn’t have to do all this, Dominic. We could have watched a movie at home.”

“We could have,” he agreed with a slight nod. “But where would the fun be in that?” He brushed a loose strand of hair away from my eyes as the wind continued to whip out at it. “I know you haven’t been able to do much of anything as of late, and while it isn’t as good as a trip to the Spirit Realm, I wanted to do something special for you, if only to give you a night out.”

I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes as I squeezed his hand, overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of his gift. “This is incredible. I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

He clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. “You ought to know by now that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, angel,” he said tenderly, and my heart raced inside my chest because I did know. I knew he meant those words with every fiber of his being and had shown me that time after time. “Shall we watch the movie?” he asked as he picked up my hand again and began walking us toward the center of the almost empty parking lot.

I squinted my eyes, trying to make out the scene in the distance.

White curtains billowed around what looked like an oasis set up in the center of the open space. String lights coiled around the posts like stars pulled from the sky and lanterns lined the path like a walkway all the way up to the purple velvet couches. A silver tray sat invitingly on the corner of the oversized couch with a bottle of champagne and two crystal flutes. Chocolate covered strawberries. Caramel popcorn. Plush white blankets.

Breathless, I pulled back, needing a moment to stop and take in all the details—all the trouble he’d gone through to get everything set up just right. No one had ever done anything like that for me in my entire life and I wasn’t even sure how to digest it.

“I don’t even know what to say,” I whispered, awestruck. This entire day had been one dream come true after another. It was almost too much for my poor little heart to handle. “I’m literally speechless.”

“Literally?” he queried smugly.

I smacked him in the chest and laughed. “You know what I mean.”

“Well, that’s the beauty of going to the movies, love. You don’t have to say anything at all,” he reminded as he held my hand up and helped me climb onto the massive velvet couch and then joined me. The giant screen lit up in the distance just as we snuggled back against the luxurious pillows.

“What are we watching?” I asked, unable to keep the excitement from my voice.

“ Ever After .” His mouth curved into a grin as he filled up the glasses with champagne and then handed one over to me. “I have it on good authority that it’s one of your favorite movies.”

My vision blurred as I tried to hold back the waterworks.

Memories of that late-summer night during my trip away with Tessa flashed through my mind. Dominic had come to visit me, as he had so many times before, but it was around the time that he had started pulling away from me—physically anyway. I didn’t know it then, but he had only just discovered that Trace was alive and well and had been trying to talk to me about it. To warn me.

But of course, being my stubborn self, I refused to hear him out, thinking he was trying to drudge up the past when it was still too painful for me to talk about then.

We’d stayed up until the sun came out talking about everything and nothing. I’d mentioned in passing that Ever After was one of my favorite movies, though we hadn’t stayed on the topic long enough for me to think the detail had even stuck.

“You remembered,” I said, warm tears trickling down my face.

He reached out and swiped at my cheek with his thumb, brushing away a tear before doing the same on the other side of my face. “I remember everything, angel.”

My heart fluttered at his words, at everything he’d said and done tonight. “Thank you for this. I couldn’t have dreamed up a more perfect gift.”

“This isn’t your gift.”

“It’s not?”

His smile was soft then, almost bashful, but his eyes shone with a depth of love and adoration that made my chest tighten. “Your real gift is way up there with the moon, love,” he said, ticking his jaw up towards the sky.

I followed the direction of his gaze and shook my head, not understanding. “You mean the stars?” I asked as his words to me the other night surfaced in my mind.

He nodded, his gaze roving over me as if he wanted to etch me into his memory. “I named them for you.”

“You…named a star for me?” My throat constricted as I looked up at the indigo sky, my eyes impossibly blurry as I canvased the firmament. “Which one?” I asked, my voice tinged with excitement.

He chuckled softly, the sound as warm and rich as velvet. “The whole constellation, angel.”

My gaze snapped back to his. “But there’s dozens of them.”

“Indeed,” he said, his eyes filled with something deep and unspoiled, “and now they all carry your name.”

There were no words in that moment to describe the wholeness I felt inside. It was as if all the pain, the heartache, the loss and sadness that had haunted me for so long had been gently erased, patched over and healed. I could feel the weight lift from my shoulders, replaced by something warm, something real.

As the opening credits rolled in the background of the starlight drive-in, I pressed my hand against his chest, the steady beat of his heart beneath my palm grounding me in the moment. Without another thought, I leaned in, closing the space between us, and kissed him—long, hard, and full of everything I couldn’t put into words. I pulled away, breathless, wondering what in the world I had done in my life to be this lucky.

* * *

By the time we had made it back to the Blackburn Estate, I was practically floating in through the door on a cloud I never wanted to come down from. What Dominic and Trace had done for me…I had never in my eighteen years of life had a more perfect day. As macabre as it was to admit, if Fate decided to strike me dead right then and there, I would happily go to my death feeling completely fulfilled and loved. That somehow, despite the short venture, I had lived a full and happy life, and I knew I had only the two of them to thank for that.

“You’re back,” said Trace, smiling as Dominic and I walked into the living room hand in hand. “So, how did the movie and stargazing go?” he asked, surprising me with his question as I crossed the room to him and flopped down onto the sofa beside him, sighing as our soulmate bond took flight under my skin.

Not only did Trace know all about Dominic’s birthday plans for me and appeared to be perfectly fine with it, he also seemed genuinely interested in knowing how our evening had gone.

Resisting the urge to pinch myself because this day was surely a hallucination I’d dreamt up, I decided that if it was, I really didn’t want to wake up from it anyway. “It was perfect. This whole entire day was just…perfect,” I said again and then smiled up at him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tugged me in close to him.

“Good,” said Trace, his hypnotizing blue eyes warm with affection as he gazed down at me. “You deserve nothing less than a lifetime of perfect birthdays.”

My heart swelled at his words, and I found myself leaning further into his embrace, relishing the solid comfort of his body against mine.

“My date was better though, right?” he whispered close to my ear, his dimples popping on both sides.

“Trace!”

“It’s okay. You can admit it. He can’t hear us,” he said, though we both knew Dominic could hear us perfectly fine.

A laugh bubbled up inside my chest as I elbowed him playfully in the ribs.

“Quit pestering her, will you?” chided Dominic as he walked over to join us with two drinks in his hands. “It’s quite unbecoming of you, especially when you are so painfully mistaken. She clearly preferred my date,” he said as he handed me my drink and then sat down on my free side, licking his lips like an invitation. “Isn’t that right, angel?”

For a second, I had thought he was going to be the voice of reason, but he was clearly playing dirty.

“You two are impossible,” I said, shaking my head in amusement and then taking a sip of the drink Dominic handed me, relishing the burn of the whiskey sliding down my throat.

“Fine. I’ll be the bigger person and let him tell himself whatever he needs to,” said Trace as he smiled at me, flashing his dimples, knowing full well what they did to me. “But we all know the truth here.”

“Oh? Pray tell, what truth is that?” Dominic asked, arching his brow at him in challenge.

“That I’m her favorite.”

I nearly snorted my drink out my nose.

“What you are, my friend, is delusional,” informed Dominic.

“Am I though?” Trace winked at me conspiratorially.

“Oh, god. Don’t look at me. I don’t want any part of this.”

Trace leaned in and whispered, “I think it’s a little late for that.”

My cheeks heated. “Right, but I think we’ve already established I can’t choose between the two of you,” I said, batting my lashes innocently. “So why don’t we just leave it at a perfect tie?”

“That’s very diplomatic of you.” Dominic raised his glass to me as Trace appeared to be thinking about it.

His blue eyes danced over my features before he finally nodded. “I guess I can live with that,” he said and then kissed my temple.

Wedged between the two of them, their lighthearted banter filling the air, I felt a deep sense of contentment settle into my soul—a kind of rightness I had never experienced before. I glanced between them, marveling at the effortless way they shared their time with me, without a hint of jealousy or competition.

It was as if they had reached some sort of weird unspoken agreement, a mutual understanding that they both held an irreplaceable piece of my heart.

In that moment, two things became perfectly clear to me. First: that this was exactly where I always wanted to be—nestled between the two halves of my heart. And second: that I was utterly and irreparably ruined, knowing with absolute certainty that no man would ever measure up to them or come close to the love I felt for them.

They had placed me on a pedestal of the highest order, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive the fall when this dream inevitably came to an end.

As all good dreams eventually do.

This entire day had been one perfect, magic-filled dream and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to end it than being smushed between the two men I loved more than life itself. And to have them not ripping each other’s throats out was just a pile of cherries on my already mountainous sundae.

It was almost… too perfect .

I had no idea how this had happened, or what exactly had brought them to this point, but it only made me more terrified of the moment they would inevitably snap out of this madness and realize this wasn’t what either of them wanted.

My errant thoughts were quickly tossed into a dark corner as the sound of the front door slamming shut drew me out of my head. Two sets of noisy footsteps echoed through the hallway, but it was the second unrecognizable sound that had my eyebrows furrowing. It almost sounded like some kind of squeegee squeaking against a window.

Before I could mock the outlandish thought, Tessa appeared in the hallway with Gabriel right behind her.

“Don’t mind me,” she said, without bothering to pause and greet us. “Just returning our mother,” she added as she continued on out of view, dragging an unconscious, leather-clad woman behind her.

What the —

“Is everything okay in here?” verified Gabriel, his eyes darting between the three of us with an unmistakable look of disapproval on his face, as though he thought we'd been up to some mischief in his absence.

“Everything’s fine.” I blinked a few times as the previous scene finally registered in my brain. “Was that my sister dragging our mother across the floor just now?”

Gabriel scrubbed a hand down his face. “It’s a long story,” he muttered, but I was already halfway out of the living room, bolting after them.