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Maya stilled for a moment. “Loose ends?”
Sienna offered her sister a smile in an effort to reassure her. Frankly, she would have preferred to go with him, but Fenn had insisted on handling this particular conversation alone. She wasn’t sure if he was being secretive or trying to protect her. But she said none of that. “That guy who kidnapped Piper and me was apparently some kind of demi-god.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
Sienna could only shrug. “Fenn wants to make sure we won’t see any blowback.” That wasn’t untrue in itself. And she supposed that was a good enough reason to be leaving the little mortal out of the conversation.
“I swear,” Maya muttered into her cider, “this world keeps getting crazier.”
Sienna started to laugh, but her own thoughts echoed back at her and she sucked in a breath. She had essentially inherited all of Florence’s power—but Florence had been immortal. Did that mean she was immortal now, too? Or had the potential to be?
Did she want that?
She watched her sister down the already cooled drink and finally processed the sound of familiar music drifting through the window. If she was—or became—immortal, she would lose this eventually. In a much worse way than however it might slowly shift as they grew.
A dark figure stepped out of the shadows of the eaves and approached them calmly. He was dressed as he usually was with his high-collared coat, dress shirt and slacks, sleek gloves and polished loafers—all black. His hair was pulled back and low, mostly obscuring his ears and emphasizing the structure of his face as well as those eyes she loved so much.
Maya said something in greeting that Sienna didn’t really hear.
Sienna pulled her lip between her teeth. If she let herself stay mortal—if that was even an option—she absolutely would lose him. No unrequited feelings necessary.
“Sienna?” Fenn asked, standing in front of her now, one dark brow arched.
She blinked and plastered a smile on her face. “How’d it go?”
His expression smoothed out and she was positive she hadn’t fooled him. “You don’t have to worry about anyone coming looking for revenge. Apparently Lycus was too radical even for his own family.”
Sienna nodded and her smile became easier.
“And?” Piper asked, suddenly leaning out the doorway. “What about that trial stuff? You asked about that, too, right?”
Maya made a show of pulling her arms tight around herself. “Come on, let’s at least take this conversation inside where the more fragile of us don’t get frostbite.” She pushed their eldest sister in ahead of her without a backward glance.
That was all it took for Sienna’s throat to constrict with nerves.Alone with Fenn.It had quickly—perhaps immediately—become one of her favorite things, but for once the idea filled her with a strange kind of anxiety. The realization of which only made her want to smack herself. Since when was she afraid of talking to him?
Fenn hadn’t moved an inch when she turned to face him again, as if sensing her struggle, but his frown was prominent.
She offered him an honest, guilty smile. “Sorry. I guess I’m still figuring some things out.”
As if her words had given him permission, Fenn stepped closer and reached up, his glove falling away as his fingers caressed her cheek. “I know it’s overwhelming, but remember, you have time. You don’t have to understand every nuance immediately.”
She huffed, pouting without meaning to, and pulled his hand into hers. “But that’s part of what I don’t get,” she said. She rolled her lip between her teeth for a moment in an effort to figure out the words without tipping her hand. “How much time do I have, exactly?”
He offered her a subtle, patient smile. “As much as you need. As much as you want.”
Feeling entirely dissatisfied with that answer, Sienna let out a very dramatic sigh and removed one hand from his in order to make a broad-sweeping, vague gesture. “That doesn’t tell meanything! Don’t be romantic about it. What situation am I in? Do I have to make a decision, is there a deadline? Is it already done?”
Fenn arched a brow. “There’s no deadline for understanding your new abilities,” he said, slower. “That is what you were referring to, isn’t it?”
She deflated. He wasn’t a mind-reader, after all. Then again, she supposed that was preferable. Something about that concept seemed very invasive.
Fenn brought the hand he still held to his lips and kissed her knuckles, drawing her focus quietly. He held her stare, unblinking. “Ask me what you need to know, Sienna.”
Why did her heart beat faster when he asked something so simple? There was nothing simple about the emotions and accompanying thoughts spinning around inside her. She was afraid and excited and sad all at once. She felt like she was already bracing for heartbreak—like heartbreak itself was inevitable, it was only a matter of which type and when. Would it really be better to know so soon the answer to even a piece of that?
It’s better than being blindsided.The sudden, devastating tragedy of her parents’ deaths had taught her that.
Sienna held tighter to Fenn’s hand and did her best to articulate the question in its generic form—one difficult subject at a time. “Florence was immortal, right?”
