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Tristan Caine: I told you I wasn’t a gentleman that very first night.
Morana remembered that conversation that first night in Tenebrae, at the mansion, with her knives at her throat and him pressed into her front.
Me: Yes, you did. It’s a good thing I’m not into gentlemen. Gentlemen can’t handle me.
Tristan Caine: I don’t think anyone can handle you. Not if you don’t want to be handled.
Morana read the message, her heart thundering. That was probably the nicest, most empowering thing anyone had ever said to her – that she was strong enough to handle herself, that she chose who she allowed to handle her. It was especially surprising, considering the kind of world she’d lived in.
Me: Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you.
Amara’s incoming call filled the screen. Morana picked up and quickly directed her towards her location. Another message waited for her, a message that sobered her up completely, bringing back what she’d managed to forget for a few blissful seconds.
Tristan Caine: I think my guards
are afraid of you.
She read the message once. Twice. It was written in the same teasing tone that she couldn’t imagine talking to him blatantly in, but the answer in her heart was slowly eating at the emptiness.
Me: They should be. After all, I just blew up a car and killed two men in cold blood.
She put her phone away before he could respond and saw Amara emerge from behind the trees. The other woman, as gorgeous as she was, was dressed in a rumpled shirt, jeans, and a printed scarf around her neck, her hair tied in a lopsided ponytail, as though she’d dressed in a hurry. That fact warmed something inside Morana that someone had dropped whatever they’d been doing to come for her.
Something heavy lodged in her throat as she saw her come closer and raised a hand, waving her over.
She saw Amara’s step falter as the other woman took in Morana’s appearance. Between the dirt on her skin and her disheveled hair, the slightly torn and dirty clothes and the invisible neon sign that hung over her head screaming ‘she’s miserable’, she was pretty sure Amara knew something quite drastic had happened.
She finally stopped in front of Morana, and without a thought to dirt or grass or whatnot, dropped down on her ass, leaning back against the headstone opposite hers. Silently, without asking a word, the other woman rummaged through her handbag and brought out a sealed bottle of water, handing it to her.
Morana took the cap off, put the bottle to her mouth and chugged down the water with thirsty sips. The cool drink flowed down her throat, making her groan in bliss. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she’d been until she tasted the delicious water.
After she’d had her fill, Morana washed her hands and splashed some on her face, taking deep breaths, trying to clean herself as much as possible.
“This is quite pretty for a graveyard.”
Amara’s soft words made Morana look up at her. Seeing the concern in her dark green eyes, Morana took a deep breath.
“It is. The best view is on the other end of it, though. Near the gate.”
Amara’s eyebrows hiked up. “I don’t think you mean the burned vehicles.”
Morana chuckled. “No, I don’t mean the burned vehicles. But we have to talk about them, don’t we?”
“Only if you want to, Morana,” Amara’s rasp made the words even sweeter. Morana was pretty sure, by this point, she was more than half in love with Amara. It was impossible for her not to love her.
And after everything she’d done for her, she deserved a friend. As did Morana. Everything be damned, she was going to make a friend.
Just because she’d lost everything known to her didn’t mean she couldn’t find something beautiful in the unknown.
With that thought, Morana cleared her throat. “I’ve discovered a lot of things about myself and the people around me recently, Amara. And nothing is what it appears to be.”
The other woman tilted her head for her to continue without interrupting once.
Morana smiled slightly at that.
“I know about Luna,” she told her, watching her eyes widen slightly. “I know about all the disappearances and about the victims. I know I was one of those babies too, the only one to have been found.”
Amara swallowed visibly, nodding. “Yes, you were. Not everyone knows it though. It was kept very quiet.”
