AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Understanding flickered in his eyes. “She became that way, yes,” he said. “As I heard it, she turned the might of her power inward and healed away her body’s aging process until it stopped entirely.”
That lined up with what Sienna thought she’d known about the other woman, so she nodded.
Fenn squeezed her hand. “You are under no obligation to do that to yourself, Sienna,” he said, his voice firm. “No one would judge you less if you chose to live out your originally destined life.”
She stared at him. Studied his expression. Repeated his words in her head and probably overanalyzed his tone, and the grip he had on her hand. His words were what they arguably should have been—it was her power now, so it was her choice—but everything else told a different story.
His jaw was tight, the vein in his throat more pronounced than usual. There was a struggle in his gaze she couldn’t define. His tone had been firm, but too tight, like he was biting out words he found distasteful somehow. More than any of that, though, was the way his fingers curled into her skin and pressed her own harder into his palm. It was the grip of a man who did not want to let go.
Or, at least, that was how Sienna really hoped she was supposed to interpret it.
She let out a breath and stepped into his personal space, not quite up against his chest. “You’re still staying for Christmas, right?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed and she had the strongest urge to lick it. “That was the deal.”
Right. The deal.The deal that had him exiting her life in two days’ time. If he was holding to their original arrangement, then … that was her answer, she supposed. The answer to all of the things she hadn’t figured out. There was no reason to immortalize herself just so she could be alone, forever watching people die, knowing it would only hurt to get close to them.
Fenn stroked both thumbs across her cheeks, and it was then that Sienna realized she had cried. That her gaze had fallen from his as the cruelty of her new reality had set in. “Tell me what else is upsetting you.”
She tried to quietly draw in a breath, like the delicate heroine she was not, but the sound was wet and raspy and grating to her own ears. She drank in the closeness of him, the haunting beauty, and felt that first crack deep inside.I still have two days!But how could she honestly enjoy them, knowing she would likely not see him again until her very last breath—if he deigned her worthy. If he was even still the one carrying the mantle.
It was too much to think about. Too hard to consider. And the pain confirmed what she had already started to fear. She absolutely loved this man. This man who would be leaving her behind as soon as Christmas passed.
Fenn let out a growl as more tears rolled down her cheeks and bent his head, kissing her. He licked his way past her lips until his tongue was tangled with hers, removed one hand from her face in order to wrap it around her waist and tug her flush to him. His other hand slid into her hair and he kissed her, hard and demanding, hot and sensual, until she could no longer breathe. Then he retreated, only enough to let her gasp for air, their noses still touching. “Tell me, Sienna, so I can kill it.”
Her head was foggy, her fingers twisted in his shirt, and she blinked at him. “What?”
His lips twitched in a smile. “Tell me what’s upset you so much,” he repeated, “so I can kill it.”
A watery, helpless laugh bubbled up from her chest. “You shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.” Despite herself, despite her words, Sienna lifted her arms until she had his jaw cupped in her hands. Suddenly she had so many things she wanted to say, so many things she wanted to tell him. And most of it she knew would need to stay forever unsaid. But she was selfish, too, and she couldn’t not tell him the most critical part. No matter how it would almost certainly change their deal. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Fenn.” She did her best to smile as his eyes widened. “How am I supposed to be okay with goodbye in just a couple of days?”
He stared at her in perhaps the most blatant shock she’d seen on his face since the night they’d met, when she hadn’t had a clue as to the significance of him or her fingers on his skin. His chest inflated with breath, he opened his mouth to respond, and Sienna braced herself for what she expected him to say.
“Listen, you two are weirdly cute, but we’re ready for the movie and I won’t hold it forever.” Piper’s intrusion hit Sienna like a popped balloon and she jumped, right there in Fenn’s arms. Which her sister seemed to think was funny, because she laughed. “Come inside, pretend you care what temperature it is, and don’t forget to tell us if you got an update on that trial thing.”
A fresh round of frustrated tears rushed her, but Sienna didn’t resist when Fenn obligingly shifted his hold to guide her inside. She should have been curious about the trial situation, too, and she knew it. But whatever was going on with that, it didn’t feel as important as finishing the conversation Piper had interrupted.
“This is the movie you watch every year?” Fenn asked, speaking to one of her sisters. His voice reverberated through her head as if she were listening through a filter. As if they were already separated.
Sienna barely stopped herself from pressing a hand to her chest in an effort to ease the pain. Did it really matter if they formally finished that conversation? Did she really need to hear the words she knew he’d say?
Piper passed Sienna a fresh cup of cocoa as Maya explained that the film had been their mother’s favorite, and how their father had never failed to make sure they gathered as a family on Christmas Eve to watch it. It was a tradition the girls had carried on to keep their parents’ memories with them during the holiday.
All of a sudden, as Fenn settled beside Sienna in the corner seat of the sofa, his gloves restored to cover his hands, everything about that tradition screamed of loss. Of pain and heartbreak and sadness.
Sienna brought her steaming drink to her lips with trembling hands. She didn’t need her former power, or a response to her stupid confession, to know that this was going to be the worst Christmas of her life. In the same way that it would be her best.
“Now,” Piper said, the authoritative tone of her voice drawing Sienna’s focus again. Piper had sat in her favorite armchair, leaving the other for Maya. “I want an update on this whole trial thing my sister has supposedly been assigned. Did you learn anything about that? Is it over?”
Maya angled toward them with blatant curiosity. “I have more than a few questions about that, too.” She would, being the family mythology buff. Maya had already made it clear she was more than a little devastated to have been unconscious for the duration of the Four’s visit.
Sienna’s throat went dry and she held a little tighter to her mug. She sort of wished it would burn, even just to distract her, but the sear of the heat barely registered before it faded away again. Convenient, to be sure, but also not.
“Fates never give details,” Fenn said, “but she did confirm that Sienna’s trial isn’t entirely over yet.” There was an edge to his voice that had immediately piqued her interest, as if he were also less than thrilled at discussing the subject.
Then his actual words penetrated Sienna’s rattled, emotionally hazy brain, and she found herself agreeing with Piper’s instant outrage. She lowered her cup to her lap and cut her ranting sibling off with a forced question of her own. “So dying and switching power sets wasn’t enough, huh?” She tried to make it sound sarcastic, like a quip that might ordinarily be expected of her, but even she recognized her failure.
Fenn laid a hand on her thigh and squeezed. The gesture was simultaneously comforting and intimate, and in that same way it made her heart ache. “She did call that your ‘biggest hurdle,’ for what that’s worth.”
