A slow grin started spreading across Lark’s face. “Oh my god,” she whispered delightedly.
“Don’t ‘oh my god’ me!” I snapped, already mortified.
She slapped a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking violently while she tried not to laugh.
“You absolutely climbed that vampire like a tree, didn’t you? Did you enjoy the ride?” Lark wiggled her brows so hard I snorted out a laugh before I could stop it.
“Yes,” I admitted, dropping my face into my hands for a second. “That is exactly it.” And god, what a ride it had been.
The memories kept circling back no matter how hard I tried not to think about them. The heat. The hunger. The strange overwhelming feeling that everything clicked into place whenever both of them touched me.
That thought alone made my stomach flip.
Was that too selfish? Greedy?
Before I could spiral too hard, Lark leaned so close to the camera her nose almost touched the screen.
“Soooooo,” she sing-songed, making exaggerated kissy faces, “are you and Calix now…”
Heat rushed straight into my cheeks, and I looked down.
“It’s…” My fingers twisted in the blanket beneath me. “Complicated.”
Understatement of the century, but how was I supposed to explain any of this? That I was apparently Rack’s magical soulmate even though it was Calix’s blood that pumped through my veins, calling me to him.
Every time I thought about him, my chest tightened and my mouth watered at the same time. Him keeping his distance somehow made me want him more, and not just physically.
I wanted that connection again, that dizzy, overwhelming feeling of being completely consumed by someone, and I didn’t even fully understand why.
Before Lark could pry further, I shoved the conversation somewhere safer.
“Actually,” I said quickly, “I wanted to ask you something.” Her teasing expression faded immediately.
“Did you see anything that night?” I asked. “Anybody near me?”
Lark’s mouth tightened, her eyes drifting away from the screen while she slowly shook her head.
“I wish I had,” she whispered. Her fingers curled against her sleeve.
“I keep replaying it over and over, trying to remember something useful.” Her voice cracked. “Anything I could thinkof.” She swallowed hard before continuing. “I just… had this feeling I needed to check on you.”
Nathan shifted closer to her immediately, resting a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
“So I made him drive me there after we were done at the club.” Her breathing became uneven again. “And then I saw you.”
Just remembering it had the color draining from her face. Her voice broke into a sob. “You were covered in blood, Via. Your hands were clutching at your stomach, trying to…” She squeezed her eyes shut hard. “God.”
I sat up straighter.
“You don’t have to?—”
“But I don’t remember everything you said,” she rushed out, frustrated tears brightening her eyes again. “You kept trying to talk, but it was broken up and I couldn’t understand half of it.”
Her fingers pressed against her forehead like she could physically force the memory out.
“I only remember you saying Winstale, so that was where I took you.”
A small guilty smile tugged at my mouth, and I shook my head. “It's okay. Like I said, I’ll remember eventually. I just thought I would ask.”
