Page 220 of Sorrow & Strangers

I walk into my room and open my other messages, only to see a whole bunch from Max.

Do Not Fuck

I’m sorry

Fuck you’re at All Souls

Text me when you’re back.

I click out of the messages and throw my phone on the bed before going to shower.

Chapter Ninety-Two

The Stranger

It takes longer than I expected to be free of Paradis, and even longer to return to Annwn, which delays me from reaching out to her even further.

Unknown

I’m free of Paradis.

Dodging Morrigan was unpleasant and not something I anticipated having to deal with. I should have killed her. I considered it, but in the end, I’ll simply extort the kingdom she clings to, encouraging a war to keep her eyes from me, but more importantly, from Summer.

Summer

How does it feel?

Disappointing. To be outside Paradis means a return to the eyes that constantly watch me, and a return to my avatar if I want to be around her. The worst part of the avatar is that I can’t touch or taste her. Even her scent is absent when I am in that form. I already miss the ease of the glamour.

Unknown

Bittersweet.

Summer

How so?

As if she doesn’t know the answer already, as if she’s not feeling the same thing I am. My fingers brush against the bracelet of shells she gave me, recalling the matching one she now wears.

Unknown

I’m unable to move as freely, but more importantly, I can’t touch you as easily.

Conjuring my avatar, I land in her bed with her as I hit send. I grin, but then I look at her, and her eyes hold so much sadness that my heart clenches. I cup her cheek, staring at her, asking the silent question.

“It’s nothing,” she says, leaning her face into my hand.

That’s a lie. After this weekend, I am more adept at reading her expressions. She’d left the guilt here and spent the last few days free of it, but now that she is back, it has returned full force. I brush my lips against her forehead and wrap my arms around her, tucking her close against me.

“You can’t stay,” she whispers.

I hate that I expected those words from her, even as she curled into me. She’s going to push me away now, feeling too exposed, too vulnerable. I under­stand it as much as I hate it.

“I can’t?”

“We made a deal. It was All Souls only,” she says, even as she wraps her hand around my biceps, holding on to me. “And I agreed to it knowing you wouldn’t back down on any of your limits.”

My limits. More like my insane jealousy and extreme possessiveness. She fails to mention her boundaries, and I know it’s because the lines are blurring for her as they have for me, and that scares her.