Chapter thirty-nine #3
“There’s more,” Gabriella states, drawing all eyes back to her.
“Ember can control the serpent long enough to get to the Diviner, but she must realize her full power to do so.” She grabs my hand.
“Which is dangerous for you and us because you will still have the serpent inside you, and you will feel him trying to corrupt you.”
There’s a pulse of apprehension in the room. “I’ll fight him,” I vow. “I’ll beat him. We will beat him.” My attention lands on Micah. “We will beat him.”
Approval floods his eyes. “I know we will.”
My lips curve, and I pick up my glass. “A toast.”
There are murmurs of agreement, and Braylon refills our glasses. When the glasses are sloshing about with amber liquid and hands have lifted, I deliver a toast from the heart. “To new friends. To defeating the serpent. To the light. To saving the world.”
Everyone shouts out approvals, and we all drink. “Oh shit,” Silas says, eyeing his watch. “The football game started.”
I laugh incredulously. “What? Here? What football game?”
A TV appears out of nowhere just above the fireplace, and to my shock, the Green Bay Packers and the Broncos are playing, and per the scoreboard, Green Bay is winning. “Fucking Broncos suck again this year,” Braylon grumbles.
Everyone starts talking sports, with the exception of me and Gabriella, who draws me into a conversation about living among humans. I, in turn, tell her about Oliver and our friendship. “Just friends?” she asks, her gaze probing.
“Yes. I swear. I never felt any other way for him.”
“But he did you?”
“He thought he did. One day, he’ll find the right person, and he’ll realize that was never the case.” I tilt my head, studying her. “You know, you two might be good together.”
She holds up her hands. “Oh no. I fell in love with a human once. That can go nowhere good. You can’t tell them the truth. You can’t stay with them.”
This punches me in the teeth, and I feel as if they’re rattling about in my mouth.
I can never tell Oliver the truth. And if I see him again, I can’t see him for long.
I won’t age. He will. But it’s okay, I tell myself.
He was eventually going to find a wife, and she would never have approved of me.
He needs to find a wife and settle down.
He was never for me. That world was not my world.
A rush of dizziness overtakes me, and I decide wine is not for me and I need a bathroom. I stand up. Micah catches my hand. “Where are you going?”
“The wine is bothering me. I’m going to the bathroom,” I say. “I’ll be right back.”
His brow dips, and he studies me a long beat, troubled by whatever he thinks he reads in me, but he releases my hand. He pushes to his feet. “I’ll walk you.”
“I’m fine. Stay. Please.” I reach for the path between us and add, I don’t want to look like a silly drunk to the others. I’ll be fine on my own.
They won’t judge you.
I just…need a minute, I explain. I’ll be back.
I’m walking you.
Oh my God, you’re stubborn.
He snorts. Have you looked in a mirror?
I sigh, and he’s already catching my hand and leading me around the couch, and I don’t even try to fight him.
Once we’re in the kitchen, about to enter the hallway leading to the bathroom, I tug on his arm, drawing his attention.
“Wait here, please,” I say. “I do not want them to think you have your tongue down my throat in the bathroom.”
His eyes light with amusement. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Micah,” I warn.
“All right. All right. I’ll be right here.” He leans against the wall.
With an unsteadiness I hate, I round the corner and enter the small bathroom to lean on the door and try to shake off the fog in my mind.
I hate this. I do not like wine. I push off the door, go to the bathroom, and wash up.
Somehow, this creates a bit of steadiness in me, and I open the door, about to round the corner when I hear Gabriella talking to Micah.
“The Knowledge Keeper gave me a message she made me swear I’d give you alone.”
“I’m listening,” he says, and I flatten on the wall, guilt stabbing at me for eavesdropping, but this is about me. And him. And us.
“She said you are linked to the one true Mordechai Angel, Samyaza, the Aza as we know it in our prophecies. Her life is your life. Her death is your death, and when you reach for the wolf and find only the serpent, death is in the air and blood is in the water. I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t seem good. ”
“What else?” is all Micah asks.
“That’s all. I like Ember, Micah. And I can see your connection. It’s real. And despite what the Keeper told me, I like you with her. I just don’t want her to be the end of you.”
“She’s not the death of any of us.” His voice is pulled tight, a band about to break.
I’m about to break, I think, my knees weak with the implications of what was spoken.
They go silent, and I think Gabriella must have walked off.
I try to rift away, and apparently a foggy mind means no magic.
Damn it. I’m stuck here to face the room, to face Micah.
And that’s when he steps in front of me.