Chapter 4 #2
Daphne purses her lips. “I’d rather you didn’t pursue them without giving me a heads up. If you disappear and don’t make it back—”
Her posture stiffens, her eyes fixed on my hand. The hand I just raised to push a stray lock of rumpled hair back from my face.
My right hand, with my bond mark etched across the palm.
I jerk it back to my side, but Daphne’s eyes have already widened. “Is that— Did you— You sparked your matches?”
Satan’s shit. In my exhaustion, I forgot I lost my gloves to the river. “I—no. Of course not—”
She’s already hurtling forward with more force than I’d expect from a woman who looks like her closest relatives were fairy folk. Before I can retreat more than one step, she’s snatched my hand.
Turning my palm toward the light, she stares down at it. The four spires around the darker core tingle with my awareness of my mates elsewhere in the city.
Her voice comes out even more hushed than before. “You did. Four. You said—”
She lifts her gaze to meet mine. “You said you were trying to avoid them, but it seemed there was a pull on both sides. I didn’t realize you were that close to sparking with them. When did this happen?”
My throat constricts against the admission, but I can’t deny it now.
I scramble for a framing that leaves out the most controversial details. “Tonight. It was an accident. We’re not going to tell anyone yet, not when there’d be so much scrutiny. So you can just… pretend it hasn’t happened.”
And not try to rope my matches deeper into our troubles to take some of the heat off me. I’d rather be devoured by a draug.
Daphne raises her eyebrows at me as if to say, Are you kidding? She rests her thumb gently at the top of my palm. “They were helping you with your investigations?”
“One of them was. Uninvited.”
“I assume the others found you after the match sparked?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“Four.” Daphne lets out a soft laugh. “Your grandparents were always disappointed your father only sparked with one, you know. You must have quite the glim.” She peers at me. “What is it?”
Not her too.
I offer up the lie that’s worked reasonably well so far. “I don’t know. We sparked so unexpectedly, and the match with me, his glim was kind of… overwhelming. I guess I’ll figure it out when I need it.”
Daphne’s assessing gaze suggests she doesn’t totally trust my answer, but she must decide not to push. “Who are they?” she asks instead.
I’m not much happier about answering that question. “Byron Worth. Salvatore Cosgrave. Colson and Asher Raith.”
My aunt’s eyes manage to widen even more. “The heir to the Worth family? And Cosgrave—isn’t he from those two lucent syndicate families that allied together?”
I give her a tight smile. “Yep.”
“The Raiths… I don’t know them. Oh.” Her brow knits. “The professor who brought your assignments a few days ago. Wasn’t his name Raith? He’s the instructor they brought on straight out of Beacon Prep because of his incredible performance there, isn’t he?”
“That’s Colson.” It seems better to use his full name rather than the more familiar Cole. “Asher’s his younger brother—he’s my age.”
“Well. That is quite an assortment. You’ll draw a lot of chatter with matches so prominent.” She catches my gaze again, with an unexpected hint of sympathy. “I can see why you might have wanted to delay the announcement. How are they feeling about it?”
Remembering Cole’s brusque words brings a renewed knot into my stomach. “It was a surprise for them too, but we’ll adjust.” I grope for a change of subject, looking down at my hand in hers. “You had—have?—three matches. Weren’t your parents happy about that?”
Daphne lets go of me with a flinch, curling her fingers over the three-spired mark on her palm. “I’m the younger sibling, and I didn’t have a glim as well suited to keeping the Devine name prestigious. Your father still made the most sense to focus the family reputation on.”
She isn’t responding to my brief prodding about whether her matches are even still around. If they are, I haven’t seen any of them in the weeks I’ve been living here.
I’m not going to pry more when I’d rather there was less prying happening all around.
Might as well set the example I’d like her to follow.
“Well, I won’t be finding out what they think of my situation for a little while.
At least now that the bond has sparked, I don’t have to keep worrying about it. ”
“Are you sure hiding it is…”
“Yes,” I say before she can finish the question, as emphatically as I can. “Announcing our union will put so many more eyes on me and invite so many more questions when I need everyone off my back while I figure out who’s after me.”
Everyone including the woman in front of me.
I brace myself for more argument, but something shifts in my aunt’s expression. “All right. If you all think it’s safest to keep quiet for now, I won’t say anything. Not unless it seems necessary.”
I’m not sure which part convinced her, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Thank you.” I start to suppress a yawn and then let it out.
“Oh.” Daphne squeezes my shoulder. “You’d better get yourself to bed, Butterfly. It sounds as if you’ve been through a lot tonight, and radiants only know what tomorrow will bring.”
I restrain a flinch at the nickname that reminds me of how much turmoil I’ve already caused and droop my head in acknowledgment. Daphne hesitates for a moment as if she thinks I might reveal some other major news and then glides out the doorway.
After the door clicks shut behind her, I peel off my stiff clothes and fumble for a set of pajamas. On my way out of the walk-in closet, a clumsy step jars my hip against the corner of the island.
Pain shoots through my leg—and vanishes with a brief wash of giddy warmth.
My throat closes up.
Whatever bruise was about to form, my glim sent off to the nearest human body. Probably Daphne just winced and wondered why she had a sudden pain in her hip.
Clenching my hands, I move the rest of the way to the bed much more cautiously.
I can’t let my power deal out any more harm. Especially not to the matches I never meant to spark with in the first place.