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“Are you okay?” I said as he stood and tossed the rest of his drink into the fire where it flared and hissed. “Nowyou’reacting strange.”
“I’m not okay, I’m not strange, I’m not anything, Cole Matheson. Except damned.” He strode down the hall toward his room. “Of that, we can be certain.”
The flower shop was more crowded than I expected, and I had to wait for the best wine shop to open. Even so, I figured I’d beat Cas and Lucy to the café since they were coming all the way from Heathrow. But Lucy was already there with two rolling bags of luggage behind her chair. She sat at a table with a handsome man with olive skin, piercing dark eyes, and a mop of loose, dark curls. My best friend looked radiant—healthier and happier than I could remember ever seeing her—but both of them sat facing the door looking strangely guilty.
“Cole!” Lucy tore out of her chair, brown hair flying, to hug me over the flowers and wine. She gripped my face in her hands. “Oh my God, it’s so good to see you. You look…so good. Healthier than I’ve seen you in ages.”
“Read my mind much?” I asked. I hadn’t known how much I missed my friend until I had her back.
She frowned. “But your eyes are sad. Oh God, we need to talk. It’s been way too long. Come, sit.” She led me to the table. “Cole, this is Cas Abisare.”
Cas stood up—he was a good two inches taller than my six feet—and offered a hand. His sharp gaze seemed to be searching me all over.
Right back at you, pal, I thought, shaking his hand.
“It is an honor to meet you,” he said in a faint accent. Middle Eastern, I guessed. “Lucy has told me so much about you and she’s shown me your portraits of her. I didn’t think it was possible for her to be more beautiful, but you captured her spirit completely.”
We all sat down, Lucy and Cas on one side, me on the other. Cas’s cadence was strange and kind of old-fashioned, and I suspected he was bullshitting me with compliments to win me over. But the way he held Lucy’s chair for her when she sat down and how he looked at her when she laced her fingers with his on the table made it clear he was smitten with her. I swelled with relief and happiness for her while at the same time, my heart ached with a jealous hunger.
“Thanks, Cas. I wish I could say the same about you,” I said with a smile. “Maybe now I can finally hear the story of how you two met.”
Cas and Lucy exchanged nervous glances.
“That’s sort of why we wanted to see you right away,” Lucy said. “Jeez, I seriously don’t know where to begin.” She looked to Cas. “Any ideas?”
Cas started to speak when his eyes widened at something over my shoulder. Lucy joined him and before I could turn, I was enveloped around the shoulders by Ambri’s Armani-and-cologne embrace.
“I always feel honesty is the best policy, don’t you?” He smacked a kiss on my cheek and took the chair beside me. “Sorry I’m late but then, I wasn’t invited in the first place.”
“Ambri…” Cas said with a growl.
I jerked in my chair. “You know each other?”
“Indeed.” Ambri smiled lazily and inclined his head in a small bow. “Lucy. We meet again.”
I gaped.“Again?”
Lucy was hunched in her coat, not denying anything, but she regarded Ambri with wariness. Cas and Ambri were locked in a staring contest. I threw up my hands.
“Anyone want to explain to me just what the fuck is going on?”
“I should have told you eons ago, but you’d have thought I was crazy,” Lucy said, tucking her arm deeper in mine as we walked back to Ambri’s flat. She carried her flowers while I dragged her rolling suitcase behind me; Cas had the other as he and Ambri followed, talking in low voices. We’d all agreed it was best to take our conversation outside since Ambri was prone to fits of drama.
Not that I’d want him any other way.
“I just don’t get it,” I said. “How do you both know Ambri?”
Lucy heaved a breath and blew it out. “Cas used to be…like he is.”
I nearly stopped walking, craning my head to look at Cas, but she kept me moving. “Are you kidding me?”
“It sounds nuts just to say out loud, but it’s true. We’d been married, once upon a time, in ancient Sumer. I died violently, and his grief turned him toward darkness. He’s been watching over me for all my lifetimes and…” She shook her head. “It’s a long story, but Cas was released of that existence so we could be together. We’ve been reunited.”
Released from that existence…
“And how does Ambri fit into this?”
“It was a battle to free Cas. Ambri helped me, but I’m sure he did it for Cas’s sake.I remember getting a feeling that he cared about him. Loved him, even.”
