Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SELENE
The moment Bren walked out with his friend, my knees wobbled. I strode to the chair that held Bren’s leather jacket and sat. My insides were cold and clammy as the fear of everything I’d built threatened to crumble. My job, my professional reputation…
And then I stilled.
I might have been the one who’d first put my lips on his, but he’d been the one who’d pushed things into dangerous territory. Not only that. He hadn’t corrected me when I’d confessed I thought I was dreaming.
He’d allowed things to escalate.
Had he laughed at me the entire time, with all my talk of the Moonlight Man?
A spark of anger lit inside me. But then quickly cooled.
What I’d seen in his eyes… The way he’d struggled for breath after ending our kiss? That had all been real.
I swallowed, my throat tight with unease. Now that I knew the truth, what did I do with it?
Images from that evening rushed back to me with stunning clarity. The glimmering pond. The trees, the water, the way moonlight had fallen upon him were all real.
I slid my gaze to his leather jacket and drew my finger over it. I’d gripped that very coat and held him with the force of a wanton woman. And I’d kissed him as though there was nothing in the world but him and me.
Heat coursed through me, a muted version of the fiery flames that had flooded me that night. Of what had possessed me.
Gods, I’d wanted the man. I still wanted him.
I scoffed at my stupidity and strode to the fireplace, needing to put distance between me and his things. “Just brilliant.”
How exactly was I supposed to work with him now?
A few seconds passed before another thought pushed aside my desperation. Maybe I didn’t need an escape.
If Bren had known all along and he’d still hired me, then was there really anything to address with him? He wasn’t interested in a personal relationship. He’d made that clear. Maybe he really did desire only my skills, and that night had been nothing but a blip in both our lives.
The thought should have made me feel better. It didn’t.
Still, there was no reason we couldn’t carry on as we had been. I would work hard to return this incredible castle to its former glory. I would tenderly care for each wound it had sustained over the years and make it into something that would last for centuries more.
That in itself was more than I could ever ask for. And hadn’t I already decided that romantic relationships only complicated my life and kept me from my life’s passion? Yes. Yes, I had.
I just needed to continue operating as I had been, and I expected he would do the same. We had an important job to do.
Bren returned moments later, the sound of the door closing echoing through the great hall. He eyed me with something akin to suspicion that left me with a shiver and wondering if I truly would be fine after Cormac’s unfortunate revelation.
I raised my brows, bracing myself for any unexpected fallout. “Is everything okay?”
He hesitated for several heartbeats before nodding. “It’s grand.”
Restless energy radiated from him as he glanced around the room, trying to appear casual. “Do you need further help with anything?”
I quickly shook my head. “No.”
Bren lifted his chin in quiet acknowledgment before returning to the crate Cormac had noisily deposited on the floor. I’d hoped he’d take it and leave. My nerves needed a moment to chill and regroup.
He didn’t.
He carried the crate to the large oak table, placing it near his other things, and settled into a chair.
I did my best to convince myself that everything was fine. Nothing had changed. All I needed to do was get back to work.
I glanced at the fireplace, at the progress I’d made the previous day, but my mind wouldn’t focus.
Perhaps if I permanently reset that small stone into the circular inlay, the slight pressure that remained would settle, and I could focus on other things.
I did not cast one look in his direction as I strode to the corner of the great hall that I’d claimed as a staging area and retrieved a small brush, the tub of lime mortar, and a small trowel before returning to the circular stone inlay. I knelt before it and pried the lid off the mortar.
“What are you doing?”
The direct, almost harsh tone of his voice cut through my thoughts. I turned to him with a questioning look. “I want to get the misaligned piece put back into place before it gets disturbed again or possibly lost.”
He held my gaze for a second longer than was comfortable before he nodded and returned to the survey maps.
I huffed lightly in response as I set aside the loose piece of stone and brushed debris and old mortar from the area.
I applied fresh lime mortar with my trowel and pressed the small, dark stone back into place within the inlay, feeling a faint resistance before it settled.
I did feel a tiny bit better, so I cleaned my trowel and returned to the fireplace.
We remained like that, both working in awkward silence. Though I wasn’t facing him, I swore I could feel every time he turned his gaze in my direction. Perhaps I imagined his attention, but it made it damned hard to focus on my work.
When Bren shifted and expelled a frustrated breath for the fifth time, I could no longer tolerate the elephant in the room. We needed to clear the air so that we could move forward. At least I did.
I stood, hands on hips, and faced him. He didn’t immediately look at me, causing the irritation to sharpen into something stronger in my chest. “Is this how it’s going to be?”
Immediately, the air compressed around me once again, but I suspected I was the source of it this time.
He blinked. “What?”
I scoffed at his inability to admit our current situation bothered him, too. “Look, we both heard what Cormac said. That’s his name, right? Cormac?”
Bren dipped his head once but said nothing as he continued to watch me, his eyes pools of granite that reflected nothing.
I swallowed back the irritation churning inside me. “You didn’t seem surprised by his comment.”
He gave a slight shrug. “I wasn’t.”
“Then you remember me from before. From the pub…” I buried the embarrassment that threatened to render me mute. “And from the grove.”
A flash of something sparked in his eyes and quickly disappeared. “I do.”
His reaction, or lack thereof, exasperated me to no end. I opened my hands wide, trying to convey that I needed something more from him than two-word replies. “Is that it? Is that all you have to say?”
The air tightened sharply at my back, and I immediately regretted the emotion in my tone.
Bren released another deep sigh and stood, gesturing toward the door in a resigned manner. “Let’s walk.”
The thought of fresh air to cool my temper was exactly what I needed. I made it as far as the inlay when a tremor pulsed outward beneath my feet. Fine, but unmistakable. A survey map at the edge of the table fluttered, though no draft crossed the hall, and my concerned gaze flew to him.
Bren shifted forward a fraction, as if to stop me, then stilled. He met my gaze but then masked his reaction.
He’d noticed. Of course he had. He noticed everything in this space the way I noticed everything in every building I had ever stood inside. Something odd had just occurred, and I suspected he knew what it meant.
Instinctively, I stepped back, away from the inlay, and the pressure in the room eased by degrees, making absolutely no sense. My next words came out as a bare whisper, as if speaking louder might trigger something again. “This space reacts…”
Bren lifted his chin ever so slightly. “Yes.”
My mind struggled to process his answer. “To what?”
“Disturbances. Misalignments.” He held my gaze. “Us.”
Us? I shook my head slowly, unable to force my feet to move. Unable to connect what he’d said to reality. Was the castle…aware?