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“I feel like I’ve been talking about myself for hours,” Sienna said a minute or so later. “I wanna know more about you. Tell me something other than how you’ve been repressed for so long you’re basically a walking pile of hormones.” She flashed him a grin as she spoke, as if to make sure her joke was clear.
Fenn choked. “I am not—“ He cut himself off and laced his fingers with hers.
When he’d been a mostly ordinary human, bearing the weight of a terrible power, of course he’d had hormones. He’d had desires, the same as any boy. Most of the time, it had been fear and hard-learned sadness that held him back. To the point that by the time the magic of the void had come for him as an adult, he’d learned to shut down those thoughts. He’d felt as dead on the inside as the corpses he now left in his wake. Because he had to.
Except Sienna was different. He didn’t yet understand how, but he could simplybewith her.
He cleared his throat roughly. “I didn’t mind hearing your stories,” he said instead.
She blinked at him, a moment of confusion on her face, before a smile lifted her lips. “Are you sure you were even listening?”
He returned her smile with a grin. “When you found out the first boy you ever liked was a bully, you pushed him out of his swing so hard he broke his leg. And when his friends tried to gang up on you for it, your sister convinced them all to go back to the school and confess their sins.” It was a summary of one of the stories she’d told him, but he’d reiterated the gist. Then his grin darkened. “If you still feel unsatisfied, I could track that boy down and give him a nightmare he’ll never forget.”
Her lips twitched and Sienna burst into a fit of laughter, her shoulders shaking. She practically collapsed against him before eventually composing herself, then adjusted to press a kiss to his jaw, and straightened. “I’m sure you could be the worst nightmare ever if you wanted.” Her expression belied her words. “But I’m totally over it, thank you, Mr. Big Bad Grim Reaper.” She poked him lightly in the chest. “And I appreciate your point, you did listen. Now it’s my turn. Test my ears.”
He had the strongest urge to lean down and lick one, maybe nibble on the edge of her pierced lobe, in response to that request.Fuck.She was right. He really was a walking pile of hormones where she was concerned.
Fenn dragged in a breath and cast his gaze around in an effort to at least think up a story worth telling. This wasn’t his hometown, it wasn’t full of memories for him—and that was a good thing. None of his old stories were cheerful or funny. But in its own way he supposed his story still held value. “Everyone around me inevitably dies.”
Sienna sighed. “Fenn.”
He met her gaze again. “I’m not talking about the unavoidable cessation of life. I’m talking about unnatural death caused by some form of exposure to unnatural life.”
Her brow furrowed. “Your life is not unnatural.”
He offered her a wry grin. “Is that why I was raised in orphanages and bounced between foster homes that never seemed able to rid themselves of me fast enough? Why my only memories of my biological family are ridiculing remarks about how they all died and abandoned me, and I deserved it?”
Sadness pinched her eyes but Sienna held her tongue. Watching. Listening.
“They all died,” he repeated. “Not just whatever family I was born with, but nearly everyone who crossed my path growing up. Technically I could make skin contact before puberty set in, but prolonged exposure was still lethal.” He huffed out a breath. “There isnothingbut death in my world, Sienna. This mantle I now bear … only provides an explanation for that.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and Sienna reached out, laying her palm over his chest. “Yousurvived. At least until this immortality magic stuff came for you, and that counts.”
He lifted her hand and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “This curse I was born with had a strange side-effect,” he said. “I never got sick. Never had heatstroke or migraines or caught the flu.” He held her stare. “And even when I hung myself, I couldn’t die.”
Her eyes flew wide. “You—“ Another tear slipped free, staining her cheek, and she swallowed visibly. Then she stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his torso, holding him tightly. “I wish I’d been there,” she whispered.
Something inside him constricted and Fenn folded his arms around her. “You may not have been immune to my mortal touch. Knowing me a century ago would only have sealed your fate.”
She shook her head against his shoulder. “We don’t know that!”
He held her a little tighter. She was certainly right that she would have been a bright spot in his lonely, dreary life. But if their present circumstances were any indication, he wouldn’t have been able to keep away from her. It was best, then, that they’d met well after he’d mastered the magic of the void that had changed him. Whether or not that had anything to do with her immunity he could only guess, and if a guess was all it ever remained, he would be satisfied with that.
Sienna eased back, just enough to look up at him. “Do you … do you still want to…?”
Fenn leaned in and ghosted his lips over hers. “I am where I want to be right now. The life I led in my human years was harsh, but it prepared me for the existence that followed.”
She released a quiet breath and smiled. “Why don’t we go back—“ The ringing of the phone in her pocket silenced the rest of the suggestion Fenn was sure he would have liked to take advantage of. She blinked in obvious surprise and stepped back enough to pull the device free, a curious frown dipping her lips.
Fenn adjusted to scoop her free hand in his, giving her some freedom without abandoning her on the sidewalk. An apology shone in her eyes as she put the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Sherri, what’s up?”
“I’m sorry, I know you’re busy with your sisters.” Sherri’s voice was all wrong and Sienna’s chest immediately tightened. They’d been best friends since before high school, when Sherri’s family had moved to town looking for a slower and all-around safer pace to raise a teenager. Which was ironic, since they’d moved in just down the street from Sienna and her superpowered sisters, but that had always been a tightly held secret. And since the girls had bonded quickly, Sienna knew her bestie’s voice pretty damn well. She knew when Sherri had been crying recently enough that she probably still had tears in her eyes.
“They’re running errands, actually,” Sienna said. “What’s wrong?”
Sherri took a shuddering breath, not even trying to deny it. “So much.” She sniffled. “Have you … have you had any visions recently about Brandon?”
