My mother took me by the face and kissed my cheek. “Marvelous,darling. Just marvelous.”
My father shook my hand. “Well done, son. We’ll be in touch.”
My brothers rejoined me. “I thought I was going to be…”
“Cut off forever?” Odin laughed. “That would be far too much drama and conflict for our parents.”
I laughed lightly. “I guess so. But you just got here. You flew all that way just to hear me play?”
“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Odin said, engulfing me in a hug.
Octavian hugged me too. “Exceptional.”
“Thank you for everything,” I whispered, holding him tight. “And stay off that goddamn lake.”
After they had left, I turned to Ezra. “You’re a liar. You’re not a world-famous pianist.”
“No? What am I?”
“A guardian angel in disguise,” I said. “I can’t thank you enough. For what you did for Harper, and for what you did for me. But especially what you did for Harper. If you hadn’t been there for her, I don’t even want to think about what might’ve happened. Except IknowI would’ve punched Langford in the face and messed up my hand. Though it would’ve been worth it.”
“It would not have been worth risking your career for that tosser. And besides, she did for me more than I did for her. Trust me.” He grinned. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a video to process.”
He hugged me and held me at arm’s length.
“It’s been a privilege, Orion. A privilege.”
Finally, the last well-wisher departed, but I wasn’t ready to go back to Atlas Hall. I hung around until the auditorium cleared out, and then I sat at the piano and ran my hands up and down the keys.
“I have a complaint,” said a voice coming down the aisle. My favorite voice. “My program said Rachmaninoff. That wasn’t Rachmaninoff.”
Harper was stunning in a black dress, her hair piled up with littlecurls brushing her pale cheeks.
“Hello, love.”
“How in the world did you do that?” she said, moving into the circle of light.
“I thought about Dean. It felt like he deserved something. A tribute.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, I wasn’t really thinking.”
“That’s what made it perfect,” Harper said. “Scooch.”
She sat down next to me on the bench.
“Careful, Bennett. If you keep bossing me around like that, I’m going to fall in love with you.” I brushed a curl from her cheek. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, then shook her head. “Yes and no. I’m fine, but I’m not okay, if that makes sense. I’m not hurt, but I feel like I’ve been wounded in some deep, unalterable way, you know? And I’ll wear the scar forever.”
My heart cracked with pain for her and flared with such hatred for the man who did this to her. Who’d cared more for his own sick needs than about the human being in front of him.
“What you did, Harper, was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” I said, my voice thick. “And while I hate that it happened to you, and I’d erase that night if I could, you were extraordinary long before it. I’m so fiercely proud… If I can say that without sounding like a patronizing arsehole.”
She smiled faintly. “I’ll allow it.”
God, this girl.
“I’m proud because, thanks to you, that fucker is going to jail, and he’s not going to hurt anyone else.” I held her cheek now in my palm. “I know that doesn’t make it easier…”
“But it helps,” she whispered. “It helps a lot.”
