Chapter 66
She hadn’t heard him enter the room, but that didn’t surprise her. These days her senses were definitely off. Her eyes swept over him. Even though he wasn’t in costume, she almost didn’t recognize him.
He wore his hair differently now, gelled and combed back. He was dressed in a pair of slim, perfectly tailored gray pants, and a navy shirt unbuttoned one button too low. His belt was Hermès. Shoes, Gucci. He smelled good, too. Rill’s cologne. Fig and cognac.
No, she thought, Miles was actually in costume.
He was dressed up as a Loeffler.
“Come on,” Miles said, thrusting the champagne at her.
Unsmiling, she took the flute and drank down the entire thing.
“Okay.” He watched her with an amused look. “How have you been?”
“Fine. Busy,” she said in a clipped, cold voice, setting down the flute. “Lots of appointments.”
A brief flicker of something inscrutable crossed his face. He shrugged his shoulders, then seemed to study a painting of a ship on Cas’s wall.
Ingrid watched him. “How’s everything with you?”
“God, I can’t even tell you.” He dropped his hands in his pockets. She spotted the chunky silver watch on his wrist. Cas’s Omega. She wanted to rip it off his arm and smack him across the face with it.
“The company is insane,” he said. “You’d never imagine how much it takes to run a place like that. But Sailor’s been great, showing me the ropes, giving me some real responsibility. It’s just all such a ride, you know?”
She hated how glib he was being. But two could play at that game. “Sounds fascinating.”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
He said it in such an innocent tone, like he had no idea why she would be doing such a thing. What a liar.
“You know you’re always welcome here,” he said. “I want you around. Sailor wants you around.”
Ingrid folded her arms. “Sailor wants nothing to do with me.”
“She’s grieving. She does want you around. She talks about you all the time. You’re our sister.”
“I’m your sister.”
“And she’s mine. That’s the thing. I’m trying to build a bridge between you two.”
She glared at him. There wouldn’t have needed to be a bridge if it hadn’t been for him in the first place. Everything had been perfect between her and Sailor. And Cas. And Rill. She had had it all under control—
She couldn’t go there. Couldn’t think about it.
“I like your costume,” he said.
She shrugged. Shook her head.
“I miss you. Talk to me.”
She moved to the window and turned to look out over the rooftops, saying the next words in a barely controlled growl. “You murdered Rill and Cas. You set up your friend, an innocent man. You used me to get close to them.”
He stepped closer to her. His voice was low.
The fig and cog nac smell was overpowering.
“You have that all wrong, Ingrid. All wrong. I took care of everything. Everything you were trying to do with your magic, I did with good, old-fashioned work. Just so you know, all of it was for us. You and me. But you can’t see that.
You can’t just take the gift that I’m holding out to you—”
“I don’t want your fucking gift—” she hissed.
“Yes, you do.” Miles’s gaze was steady. “You want it so bad you can taste it.”
He was infuriating. So sure he knew her. So sure he knew what was best.
“It’s just …” She clenched her fists in pure frustration. “Why did you have to lie to me? Why did you have to make me feel bad for months for wanting to be a part of this family?” Her voice cracked. “I loved them, and you made me feel like a terrible person for it.”
“I was jealous. I didn’t want to lose you.
Before we met, I just wanted to know you, more than anything.
You’re my sister, Ingrid. But after everything Tess told me about Edie, I was scared you would reject me, so I thought it was best to take a different approach.
Maybe it was wrong, not telling you everything, but after we met, I realized we were a perfect pair.
Us, you and me, working together, I realized that was the best way, the smart way, to get close to the Loefflers. ”
“You used me,” she snapped.
“And you used the magic.” He shook his head. “Or the light or Goddess, whatever you call it. But what I’m trying to say is that what I did, I did for us.”
“What you did was wrong,” she said.
“I could say the same of you.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.” Her voice shook.
“Didn’t you?” Miles’s blue eyes were open. Clear. “You’re the one who removed the veil of protection from him, Ingrid. You wanted him out of the way just as much as I did.”
“I didn’t want him dead.”
“Yes, you did,” he snarled, his face turning red, a vein on his forehead bulging. He ran a hand across his brow. Settled himself. “You did want him dead, Ingrid. Whether you admit it or not, we were on the same page.”
She threw up her hands. “Well, I changed my mind, okay?”
“Because he offered you money.” He spat the words out. “But if you’d just trusted me, I was going to get us the money anyway—”
Ingrid blinked at him. Felt herself sway. There it was. His confession.
“Baby!”
Miles’s head swiveled in the direction of a woman—gorgeous, blond, and dressed in a gossamer sequined slip dress with wings attached at the back. She was grinning at the two of them. He reached for her, and to Ingrid’s amazement and shock, pulled her to his side.
“Ingrid, this is Poppy.”
“Oh my God, Ingrid. How are you?” Poppy bent and kissed the air beside Ingrid’s cheek.
“You already know each other,” Miles said. “What was I thinking? Of course you do.”
Poppy caught Ingrid’s forearm in her soft hand.
“I never got a chance to thank you for filling in for me as maid of honor at Sailor’s wedding.
And all you went through that night. Awful.
Just awful.” Now she took hold of Miles’s arm.
“But look at all that happened as a result. Miles finally finding his family. Sailor getting back her long-lost brother. Talk about silver linings, right? And then, meeting this guy …” She leaned into Miles and planted a soft, tender kiss on his lips.
His hand snaked around her waist. “He’s so incredible.
So open to living intentionally. Holding space for me when I’m overwhelmed with my company.
” Poppy giggled. “But of course, you know all about how great he is.”
Ingrid swallowed down the rage that was bubbling up from her gut. She had to. Otherwise, she was going to lose her shit. Do something she regretted.
“Grab you another beer, babe?” Poppy asked Miles.
“I’ll come with you. I need to check in with Sailor.” He turned to Ingrid and gave her a hug. “Talk later, okay?”
Ingrid clamped her hand on his arm. “Give it to me.”
Miles furrowed his brow.
“The watch,” she said in a low voice. “Give it to me now.”
Poppy blinked in surprised dismay. He unclasped the Omega and shook it off. He dropped it into her hand. “See you later, Ingrid.”
“Bye, Ingrid.” Poppy took Miles’s proffered hand, and the couple left the room.
Ingrid closed her eyes. She stood still for a few seconds, then, opening them and taking a deep breath, slid the watch onto her own wrist. She fastened the clasp. It was too big and hung halfway over her hand, but she didn’t care. She liked feeling the weight of it on her skin.
She went back downstairs. At the open front doors, she stepped back outside and breathed in again, this time the tranquil, briny night air. She pulled her phone out of her bag and ordered an Uber.
Five minutes later, she was climbing out of the car, just outside the gates of Bonaventure Cemetery.
As the car drove off, she glanced around.
The cemetery closed at five every night, but she knew how to get around that, thanks to Boney.
She missed the guy, missed his bed, the feel of his skin against hers. She worried for him.
She scaled the fence and dropped down onto the sandy path that led into the heart of the cemetery. As she walked past the large marble statues and markers that marked all those who’d been laid to rest, drawing closer toward Edie’s grave, she silently gathered the light to her.
Gather strength,
As the clock waxes.
Gather courage,
As the day wanes.
I gather, you gather,
And what we gather shall grow,
So in the bloom of night, we shine forth.
Edie’s granite marker glowed like a beacon, shining from among the sea of other stones.
Someone had left a bunch of peonies, tied with a black ribbon, on the ground.
They were withered now, desiccated brown petals parchment, just awaiting a strong rain or the touch of someone’s hand to release their hold on the stem and fall to the ground.
Miss Paulette? Maybe Rill, even.
She picked up the cadaverous bouquet and flung it away, then kneeled and grasped the small marker with both hands.
“Edie,” she said.
There were no tears now. There were none left in her. She would just tell the truth now, straight out. No hiding.
“I’ve lost,” she said to her grandmother’s grave. “I am lost.”
She waited, feeling the embrace of the moonlight.
Feeling the breeze trail its fingers along her face and lift her hair.
She heard an owl hoot from somewhere in the cemetery, calling to its mate.
She felt the synchronicity of the universe open up before her.
She felt the spirit of her grandmother rise and wrap around her.
She closed her eyes and smiled in relief.
Edie …
She thought about what Edie had taught her.
Goodness and strength and honor. She would hold to them, to her new friends and neighbors.
She would depend on the people around her, Dean and Gloria and Sheffield.
She would let them help her. She would respect the Goddess, trust in the benevolence of the universe and her place in it. She would not fail. She could not.
Edie …
And then, it was all gone—Edie, the owl, the sense of unity she had felt. She was alone once again, just a girl kneeling at a grave in a Savannah cemetery. She was on her own, fighting for the scraps that life might throw her way.
She let go of the granite marker and lay down, curling up on the root-rippled ground. She stayed that way a while. She was tired, after all. Confused and empty. When she looked to the future, she couldn’t see a thing. It was no longer open to her.
With her head down on Edie’s grave, she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes.