“She’s finally cracked,” I said to Timothy.
He continued to sip his tea a little too intently, which leads me to believe he might see exactly what Vivien does.
The whites of her eyes nearly swallowed her irises just before her face jerked to the side as if some unforeseen force collided with her face. Then her shoulder snapped back unnaturally.
“Timothy?” I asked.
“Mmm?”
“Did Grim assemble a bunch of ghost pillows to attack Vivien?”
His dark eyes met mine. “Are you suggesting the god of the dead, Anubis himself, would waste his time and energies on creating pillows from the ether just to torment his wife the way she has been doing to him?”
I matched his stare even as Vivien cried out and batted at empty air in futile defense.
Then I picked up my champagne and took another sip. Neither of us were inclined to get in the middle of the great pillow war. That would be the same as trying to stop a dog fight. It would only end in blood. Ours.
As Vivien cried out and tried to escape her relentless invisible attackers, I wondered why I’d shared such an intimate story with Xander.
I don’t know what possessed me to even give Xander a small part of that story. It was like I was handing the ugliest part of my soul over on a silver platter to a man who’d lived nearly as long as time.
“Come on guys,” Vivien cried out. “Help me.”
But at the time, I’d felt a safety I didn’t remember ever experiencing. It was like Xander and I could be torn up messes together and it would be okay.
Then he hurt me. And I hurt him when I flirted with my neighbor in front of him.
I was trying to convince both of us this thing between us wouldn’t work.
“Argggh!” Vivien lay back on the pedestal, kicking and flapping her hands up in the air in defense. She’d literally been beaten to the ground.
But then Xander went into the motherflipping underworld to find my long-lost pet.
Aw crap.
Vivien was right.
I didn’t think I was good enough for him.
Timothy’s gaze was thoughtful. “Xander’s experiences have been... quite severe. Through that, he might see what truly matters. And it seems,youmatter to him a great deal.”
I countered, my voice tinged with a mix of defensiveness and vulnerability. “But he’s immortal. And I’m not. Why would he choose me?”
Vivien swept the champagne glass from my hand and downed it in one gulp. “What the hell guys?” Static-charged hair flew around her flushed face. She batted the strands back down with rage-filled swats.
“This is between you and Grim,” I said with an arch of my eyebrow.
Ignoring Vivien entirely, Timothy went on. “That’s the point, Miranda. To someone who’s lived forever, the raw, genuine nature of mortal life can be irreplaceable. Your mortality doesn’t make you less; it could be what he’s drawn to.”
“So heonlywants me because of my mortality?”
Vivien’s nose wrinkled even as she tried to calm her fly-away hairs. “Damn biatch, you are twisting Timmy’s words around to prove that Xander’s feelings for you couldn’t possibly be real. Are you this cynical and mean to yourself in your head too? ‘Cause, well… damn.”
Timothy sighed, his expression softening. “You are my friend, Miranda, and you are enough as you are. Whether or not you’re with Xander, don’t doubt your worth.”
My gaze fell to the ground, my heart wrenching at being found out. Timothy's words pierced through my façade, exposing the raw fear that has consumed me for far too long—the fear of never being good enough.
They dredged up all my insecurities, my deep-seated fears, and I could feel the weight of them crushing down on me.
