Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
After Vaelyn left me in the alley, I decided to go straight back to my apartment. I couldn’t bring myself to work on the case, even if that means another woman shows up dead. It’ll be my fault, but I don’t care at the moment.
Dejection is a bitch, and I’m taking it really fucking hard right now.
As much as I want Vaelyn to stay, I won’t keep her against her will. She’s a free spirit, and I know I couldn’t confine her because I’ve felt the same way before. My family held me back for far too long when all I wanted was to be free.
When I get to my door, dread settles like a weight in my chest. My apartment is going to be far too quiet, and that’s the last thing I want, especially after last night. Memories already play on repeat in my mind of the time we spent together.
I fling the door open and don’t even make sure it gets closed before I’m stomping across my penthouse—I just want to collapse in my bed.
The moment I end up on it, I instantly regret my decision.
My sheets still smell like her. I know I should make myself get up, but instead, I bury myself in her scent.
What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.
The sound of my balcony door sliding open wakes me. I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep. Flying out of my bed, I head for the living room. Who would dare come in here without my permission?
I walk down the hall, preparing for a fight, but I stop dead in my tracks.
Standing before me is the woman who hasn’t left my mind.
She’s in her harpy form with what looks like silver lightning streaks spread across her exposed skin.
Her platinum blonde hair perfectly matches the feathers of her wings, which are currently wrapped around something in her arms. I take a step closer and realize that it’s actually a woman curled up against her chest, covered in a blanket.
My heart leaps into my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“Let’s wait for Avyanna,” she says.
At the mention of my mimic, my heart skips a few beats. “Who’s that in your arms?”
“Put two and two together, Adrestia. I know you can.”
I purse my lips. “Why did you bring the gorgon here?”
The woman in question shifts in Vaelyn’s arms. “Believe it or not, this is the safest place for me right now. I want to be here just as much as you want me here.”
“I have no problem—” I begin, but another figure walks in through the front door that apparently didn’t get closed when I came in earlier.
The hair on the back of my neck stands, and I prepare for the worst. When the person steps into the light, I come face-to-face with… myself? What the fuck?
Vaelyn huffs out a laugh. “It’s just Avyanna.”
My front door slams shut, and the woman parading as me steps forward.
Every single piece of her looks just like me, all except one single thing—an all too familiar beauty mark on her cheek.
As I look her over, the woman slowly starts to change, her features becoming ones I know like the back of my hand.
I shake my head. “Why did you choose me?”
Avyanna shrugs. “No one would question your walking into your own building. I’ve never been here, so that would be a little suspicious, especially not being chaperoned by someone who does live here.”
“That’s fair,” I say. “Can someone please tell me what you’re all doing here?”
A shimmer flashes over Vaelyn, bringing her back to her human form. She eyes me as she folds herself up on the couch with the gorgon still in her lap. It’s an interesting sight, seeing as Vaelyn is several inches shorter than the gorgon.
The gorgon adjusts herself in Vaelyn’s arms, and Avyanna takes a seat beside them, placing a hand on the gorgon over the blanket. There’s a heavy tension hanging around them. What the hell happened between the time we all left that alley and now?
I take a seat in the chair across from them, placing my elbows on my knees.
My eyes drift over each of them, starting with Avyanna.
Her eyes shift from me to the door every so often while she rubs small circles with her fingers over the blanket covering the gorgon.
She’s trying to portray a calm exterior, but those ice-blue eyes swirl with a mix of emotions I know how to read all too well. Being here is making her uncomfortable.
Beside her, Vaelyn is glaring daggers at me. Her stormy grey eyes haven’t left me since she walked in. And she’s gripping onto the gorgon like her life depends on it. Why?
Speaking of the woman in Vaelyn’s lap, she’s curled up so tightly that I’m not sure she’ll be climbing out anytime soon. Avie looked pretty protective of the gorgon when we were in the alley, so I wonder why she’s attached to my harpy now.
We sit in silence for a few more moments before I’ve had enough. “Someone tell me what the fuck happened.”
Avyanna’s jaw clenches. “We needed somewhere safe to bring Roxi after she was abducted off the street and raped by three of her father’s guards. This is where Vaelyn suggested we come. We suspect the guards have been following us since she left, so I didn’t want to go back to my apartment.”
“Why the hell does her father have guards?” I ask.
Avyanna scoffs, while Roxi shifts in Vaelyn’s arms so she can face me.
“He hired them after I was born—because of what I am. Who knows if he was protecting me from the world or if he was protecting the world from me, though. When he died a few decades ago, the guards just stayed. They’ve pretty much left me alone until last night.
That’s when Avyanna got me out of there. ”
“That’s strange,” I say. “I’m sorry for what’s happened to you. We should look into these men and figure out what their prerogative is with you, why they’re trying to find you when your father isn’t even technically employing them any longer.”
“Honestly, I’m really fucking tired right now and would love to get some sleep,” Roxi says with a yawn.
“I have a guest bedroom in the back with a bathroom attached. You’re welcome to use those while you’re here,” I say.
Vaelyn stands with Roxi still in her arms. “I’ll get her settled back there. I’m quite tired myself.”
Avyanna moves to follow, but Vaelyn shakes her head, so Avyanna sits back down. My mimic crosses her arms over her chest and sits back. I mirror her movements, pursing my lips because I’m not even sure what to say to her.
“Our dear friend Alaric sends his regards,” she finally says.
“I’m not sure if I should be glad he’s nearby or worried,” I say flatly.
“He did tell me something interesting.”
I lean forward, curiosity getting the best of me. “And what’s that, Avyanna?”
Her eyes lock onto me. “That you’re the reason I got away from those sex traffickers when your family sold me off.”
My heart leaps into my throat. “Is that so?”
“Yep.” Then, there’s a long pause before she asks, “Is it true?”
“Do you think that little of me?” I ask, ending with a laugh of disbelief.
“Of course it’s true. I couldn’t stand by while they hurt you.
Used you. What my family did to you was beyond fucked up, and I’ll never forgive them for it.
I cut ties with them after that. The biggest reason I didn’t come after you when you escaped was because I wanted to give you space, plus it gave me time to track down the remainder of the sex traffickers and kill them so they’d never hurt another again. ”
Emotion flickers through her beautiful eyes. “Well, fuck,” she whispers.
“I could never expect you to forgive me—it never should’ve come to that. The expectation was for me to choose them. To their displeasure, I chose you, so they tried to take that choice away from me. They had you abducted while I was away so that I couldn’t interfere.”
Tears fill her eyes. “You did choose me?”
“Absolutely. I would’ve chosen you one hundred times over, even if it ended the same way. My family never truly cared about me, and that whole situation made it clear,” I say, dropping my gaze to the floor.
We sit there in silence for a long while before she asks, “Addie, do you believe in soulmates?”
Her question catches me off guard. I lift my gaze to meet her eyes and raise an eyebrow. “Something of the sort. Griffins speak often of Animae Gemellae—twin souls. They say you know when you find them because you never want to be away from them. You feel complete.”
She purses her lips as her brows draw down. “Did you ever believe they existed?”
“I’ve known very few griffins who say they’ve found their Animae Gemella. I want to believe they’re real—because of the way I feel about you and now Vaelyn after such a short time—but I’ve never been good enough for anyone, especially my own family.”
“That’s not true,” she says, sniffling. “Before your family fucked up our relationship, I was so madly in love with you it made me sick. You made me feel like I finally had somewhere I belonged, someone with whom I belonged. My kind believe in something similar to the griffins: Sielunkumppani. It’s Finnish, meaning soul companions. ”
I stare at her for a moment. “Why are you bringing this stuff up now?”
“When I told Alaric that Roxi could look all three of us in the eye, he asked me if I knew the term soulmates. Of course, I told him how I feel about it—the term is over-hyped and overused in the human world—but he said soulmates are a huge deal in the supernatural world. Every species just has its own name for it. He told me gorgons call them Synkairós or Synkai for short.”
“Let me guess, the gorgon could look their Synkairós in the eye.”
She nods. “Exactly. And there have been cases of a gorgon having multiple Synkai.”
“So you think we’re all her Synkai? That we’re all connected somehow?”
She nods again. “I think it’s a possibility. Especially since we all have such strong feelings toward each other in such a short amount of time.”
I sigh. “This feels like something out of one of those books the humans read. They go feral over ‘fated mates’.”
Avyanna laughs—the sound is so beautiful and melodic.
I wish she’d do it more often, but I know she’s been through so much in her life, and it’s hard for her to see the good around her sometimes.
I love the way her blue eyes light up and her cheeks flush when she’s happy.
If she’d let me, I’d make her happy for the rest of our lives.
She catches me staring at her and peers out the window that overlooks the city. “I really wish things hadn’t happened the way they did. Honestly, I would’ve rather had you come after me and explain things, not let me run away and think you’d possibly been part of your family’s plan.”
“I wanted to give you space. You’d just been through a lot because of my family. When I felt like I’d given you enough time, though, you were already gone. I didn’t want to chase you, so I left it alone until we ran into each other,” I explain.
“Well, we can’t change the past, but we can shape the future. Let’s get some rest and pick this conversation back up in the morning, okay?”
A smile creeps across my face. “I’d love that. It sounds like we’ve got a lot to discuss as a whole. Should we go see how Roxi and Vaelyn are doing?”