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Chapter Twenty-Two

T his time Serena landed in Grim’s arms.

“How did you do that?” she asked in amazement.

“Trade secret,” he replied with a wink.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute, both unsure of how to talk about what had happened.

“I just—”

“I wanted to tell you—”

“Oh,” said Serena, who was about to tell him she didn’t expect anything in return for her confession, “you can go first.”

He took her hand then and placed it on his chest. “From today on Serena Rose. My life is yours. If I lived a hundred lives, I would find you in each one, just so I could dedicate it to you. From now until I am but a note upon the wind, I am yours.”

Her eyes glistened with tears. “And I, yours.” she whispered.

His hands encircled her waist then and pulled her close.

With one hand on her back, he cupped her face with the other and drew her lips to his.

Her hands traveled to his hair and buried into it, marveling at the silkiness.

Backing her up until she was leaning against the wall, he deepened the kiss, and she moaned into his mouth, her body feeling it was on fire.

He nudged his knee in between her legs, and his hand traveled slowly up her thigh, until she felt like she would die from the ache of wanting him.

They drew apart after a few minutes, breathing heavily. Grim pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

“Welcome home,” whispered Serena, feeling as if her heart would burst.

“It’s good to be back,” he murmured.

They sat in front of the fireplace again, but this time Grim had his arm around her, and she was snugly ensconced next to him, bathing in his warmth.

“What do you think Lore was talking about?” she asked. “About Nerida and Arcana.”

He shook his head. “I have no idea. But there was something odd about the curse this time, the setting didn’t seem quite the same.”

“You’re right,” said Serena, suddenly remembering Daisy. She told Grim about how odd it had been that she had seen someone from this world who was existing in the other realm.

“Then I’m right,” he said. “The curse is changing, growing more intricate as it learns about us. It explains why Lore knew about my curse and how you encountered someone you had recently interacted with in this world. I don’t think it’s just dumping us in different worlds any longer.

I believe it’s changing the worlds themselves. ”

She looked at him, her eyes wide. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“There’s only one way to find out more: we have to contact Nerida.”

She fetched the mirror then and called out the queen’s name, but no one showed up. She frowned in frustration. So much for calling out whenever she needed assistance.

“Maybe we can try again tomorrow,” suggested Grim.

She nodded, slightly disappointed, and yawned. He noticed and shepherded her to bed, ignoring her sleepy protests. Once she was in her room, he turned to leave, and she caught his sleeve.

“Stay,” she whispered, a little shyly.

He smiled and inclined his head. Sitting next to her, he stroked her hair with careful tenderness, until she finally fell asleep.

Serena was sure there was no better feeling than waking up and finding herself in Grim’s arms. It was daytime already, but she did not feel like getting up just yet. Snuggling her face into his arm, she gave a contented sigh. Just then she heard the echo of a sharp knocking on the front door.

Who could that be?

She slipped out of the bed quietly, as to not disturb Grim, who was sleeping soundly, looking oddly young in his sleep. Sometimes she forgot he was just barely older than she was, he always looked so burdened. Approaching the window, she peeked outside and yelped loudly.

“Grim, wake up,” she said, alarmed, her voice rising. “GRIM!”

He sat up with a jolt, and she hated that she had no time to enjoy the sight of him bare chested in her bed. But this was an emergency, and she needed to act fast. He looked at her in askance and she gestured for him to get out of bed.

“My family is here. ”

He looked at her blankly in the midst of retrieving his shirt.

“Yes, my family, the people who are responsible for my birth. Keep up! I can’t let them know you spent the night, and for the stars’ sake, hurry up!”

He had his shirt on now, and he crossed over putting his hands on her shoulders.

“Hey,” he said gently. “Calm down. Here’s what we’ll do. You go downstairs, and let them in. I’ll sneak out the window and go kill a few hours while they’re here.”

“But”—she chewed her lip nervously—“I would like you to be here.”

He blinked, clearly surprised, and nodded.

“Then I’ll come back in fifteen minutes and knock on the door. You can introduce me as the scholar who has come to take a look at the books.”

“All right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to go down now.”

And she nearly bolted down the stairs to answer the knocking that had grown significantly in volume.

She sat in the living room five minutes later, amidst an awkward silence.

Her mother had come along with her oldest brother, Garrett, saying she had something to talk to Serena about and to give her.

Clearing her throat, she moved to dispel the silence and asked why her father had not been able to make it.

“He very much wanted to come,” said her mother. “But he’s traveling right now.”

She thought of her well meaning but absentee father and very much doubted it.

“Rina,” began her mother, and she sighed inwardly.

Whenever her mother used her nickname, it was a sign that she was about to cajole Serena into doing something she did not want to do, “Would you not consider coming back already? You asked us to give you some time to figure some things out, but it’s been long enough. ”

And there it was.

“I have a life here, Mama,” she said quietly. “I told you that.”

“What life?” cried her mother. “Do you want to always stay alone in this dreary cottage, surrounded by family ghosts, like your aunt? I will not allow that!”

“Primrose Cottage is not dreary,” she said through gritted teeth. “And you can’t tell me what to do!”

She winced when that came out of her mouth. Something about her mother always made her revert to the sulky girl she had been when she was thirteen, and her mother kept trying to ‘fix’ her.

“Oh, you know what I mean!” said Lorena dismissively. “It’s pretty, to be sure, but it’s no place for a young woman to live alone.”

Her brother lay a calming hand on their mother’s arm and addressed Serena. “Mother doesn’t mean to offend you, Rina. She’s just worried about you living here alone. We all are.”

Serena’s eyes were on that hand on her mother’s arm, and she thought bitterly of how her mother would never allow herself to be calmed by Serena that way.

She would never give her words the weight that she gave her brother’s.

Garrett could afford to play the diplomat; he had never known what it was like to be constantly treated like there was something wrong with him.

She resented him immensely in that moment, for having a relationship that she could only dream of having with her mother.

Serena clenched her fists. “I assure you, I’m perfectly fine and safe. There’s absolutely no need for any of you to be concerned. ”

A knock sounded then, and she nearly jumped out of her seat in an effort to rush to the door.

Opening it, she found Grim standing there, back in his scholar garb.

His hair was unkempt, his coat slightly too large, and his boots worn.

He had even managed to rustle up a pair of spectacles that sat low on the bridge of his nose.

“Ah, Miss Rose!” he said loudly. “So glad you’re home. May I take a look at the books again today?”

“Oh, yes of course Mr…Grim?”

He looked like he was trying his hardest not to laugh at her horrible attempts at subterfuge as he followed her to the sitting room.

Her family gaped at him with identical expressions of surprise.

Serena didn’t think they had seen her entertain someone she was not forced to meet in a long long time.

Introducing Grim to them as a traveling scholar, she explained that he was here to look at the Larke book collection.

Her mother looked a little wary, but Garrett was looking at him with poorly disguised interest. She desperately hoped her brother would not say something embarrassing.

After the introductions were made, she politely played the role of hostess and offered tea, which everyone accepted.

She made sure to take her sweet time, not wanting to go out and restart the conversation with her mother.

Unfortunately, there was only so much she could delay, and she could already hear her brother trying to strike up a conversation with Grim, and so she marched outside with the tea tray.

Her mother picked up her cup and gave it a critical once over. “Serena, dear you really need to replace your tableware. It’s starting to chip.”

“Yes, Mama,” she said through gritted teeth.

“I know your aunt didn’t hold much space for propriety, but that doesn’t mean you have to live exactly the way she did. ”

“I know.”

“Won’t you consider at least coming home for a few months?” her mother pleaded. “You could go out, meet some people, maybe find a ma—”

“ Mama.” Serena’s cheeks flushed, and she tried not to look at Grim. “Please, we have a guest.”

“Oh,” said her mother, once more remembering Grim’s presence. “Yes, of course.”

“I say, Mr. Grim,” remarked her brother, “you seem remarkably well built for a scholar. Nothing like the snot nosed types I meet in the city.”

“Garrett!” hissed Serena.

For his part, Grim looked amused. “I appreciate the compliment.”

“Do you know Serena well, then?” questioned Mama.

“Well enough. She has been remarkably kind to me while I’ve been here.”

“All right then,” said Serena loudly. “Let’s not interrogate the poor man.”

Unfortunately, her mother took that as a signal to continue badgering her instead. “At least tell me if you’ve met someone.”

“I’ll let you know if I do.”

“Oh!” exclaimed her mother, frustratedly. “Why must you always be this way, Serena?”

She felt a flash of hurt run through her. “I’m not being any way at all, Mama,” she snapped back.

“You’ve always been such a stubborn, difficult child. You never listened to me, you abandoned your family and ran off, and now you won’t so much as answer a letter we send!”

“Aunt Maeve was family too.”

“Of course she was,” said Lorena bitterly. “Maeve was the only one you ever even considered as family. The rest of us mean nothing to you. ”

The words stabbed like arrows to her heart, and she wanted to gasp at the pain. She had tried to be the daughter her mother wanted; it wasn’t her fault that she could never quite get the hang of it.

“Mother,” said Garrett, but he was ignored this time.

Her mother stood up and produced a letter, thrusting it toward her.

“Here,” she said, sharply. “I came to give you this. Your aunt told me to give this to you if something happened to her.”

Serena looked at the letter her mother had handed her and felt a roaring in her ears.

“Aunt Maeve passed six months ago,” she whispered.

Her mother had the grace to look ashamed.

“I just—I was going to give it to you when you next came to visit. But then you wouldn’t come and you stopped answering my letters and I—I couldn’t.

You don’t know what it’s like, Serena! To know that your own daughter wishes that your sister were her mother instead!

To want nothing more than to be close to her, only to have her shove you out, and let someone else in.

I was angry, and I didn’t want her to have this one thing! ”

She continued to stare at the letter, which had her aunt’s messy scrawl on it.

“I never wished she was my mother,” said Serena in a low voice, “but this…this goes beyond pettiness, Mama. This was cruel. ”

All that time feeling hurt that her aunt never even left behind a note, despite knowing she was ill. Only to find out that she had written Serena a letter all along. A letter her sister had hidden. She stood up.

“I need you both to leave,” she said to her mother and Garrett.

“Serena!” cried her mother, but Garrett pulled her gently toward the door and nodded at her, understanding that she needed her space for now .

“I’ll walk you out,” offered Grim, and her brother glanced curiously at him, before understanding dawned. He gave Serena a cheeky little wink, which she might have been embarrassed by, had she not been so hurt and betrayed.

She heard Grim walk them out to the door, and then flopped into her chair, tears falling on the piece of paper in her hands.