I stopped short at the entrance.
Oliver lounged at our table, plopping chocolates into his mouth with his fuzzy slippers propped up.
“Didn’t I leave you in bed?” I padded down the marble floor and took a seat opposite him.
He smiled, his teeth covered inmychocolate truffles. “Haven’t heard of the old pillow trick?”
“I wasn’t that sheltered. But why are you up this late?”
He took his feet off the table and leaned forward, grabbing my hands before they could reach for a book. “We need to talk.”
I quirked a brow. “Breaking up with me, Oli?”
“You know, that would’ve actually been kind of funny if not for your monotone voice and dead eyes. Now what the hell is going on with you?”
I pulled my hands back. “Noth?—”
“I’m going to lose it. I will shriek like a girl and wake up Cato, and we’ll get the scolding of our lives. I’m your best friend. Just talk to me,” Oliver pleaded.
I stared at my fidgeting fingers, unable to meet his eyes. “Have you ever been in love?”
Oliver’s chair shifted, and I peeked up at him. His silence told me he hadn’t expected that to come out of my mouth.
He shook his head. “No. Searching for Melanie took up all of my time. I had flings and flirted. But falling in love has never been on my mind.”
“What do you think it feels like?”
Oliver let out a puff of air. “Everything. I think some days you’ll wake, roll over, and look at them in bed, and a feeling of unadulterated joy will fill you up. A small smile might stretch across both your faces, because in that moment, you both feel like the luckiest person alive. Other days… it’ll ache. It’ll squeeze your chest in an unbearable grip. They’ll frustrate you. They may even hurt you in ways you never expected. But love isn’t just beautiful, it’s brutal. Soft and sharp. But worth it when you find the right one.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you sure you haven’t been in love?”
“I’m sure I have eyes and ears and have lived a long enough life to have witnessed it.” He clasped his hands and placed his arms on the table, leaning forward. “Is that what this is about? Aspen?”
“Maybe.”
“We’ll find a way out and get to them. Don’t worry.”
That was the problem, wasn’t it? I was worried. I shouldn’t want to rescue him.
“This’ll cheer you up. Alexei told me to tell you to meet him on the roof tomorrow morning. Something about seeing the sulking general. So you can apologize and then get back to wooing him over to our side.”
The urgency whispering in my ear practically hummed with contentment at the idea. The thoughts lessened the strangling of my organs.
Was this what love was? I almost hoped it wasn’t.
“You’re not coming?”
“Wasn’t invited. But I believe in you.”
I didn’t.
How in the world would I woo Ronen to our side after I apologized?
Chapter
Forty
LUCILLE
