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Objectively, the house was terrifying. It was huge, meant to hold an entire court. It rested on an uneven part of the ocean floor, making the tops of domes and pointed roofs and arches hit different heights in the water, with no clear number of stories discernable.
Ocean greenery climbed up the white limestone walls, integrating the massive house into the landscape of the ocean like it was always meant to be there. The sea had certainly adapted around it, wildlife and humans and deities alike bustling around.
Someone else might cower in the face of it, but I wished my arms were long enough to wrap around the entire palace and squeeze tight in a hug.
This was exactly what I was scared of. But fear wasn’t in the picture when I was taking in every detail, relishing in the pings of confirmation that rang through my mind as what I was seeing aligned with what I’d remembered.
Loretta and Dave looped us smoothly around the outside and down toward the main entrance. The formal entrance.
I was going to be treated like a stranger in my own fucking house, wasn’t I? Maybe that meant Lukas intended to end our arrangement. Maybe duty had loosened its grip on him.
I was only half scared at the thought. I’d get some solace from Lukas’s presence, but I hadn’t been particularly happy without him.
And dammit, he’d made me love the ocean. It wasmyrealm as much as knowledge was.
The entire entrance was unceremonious. Loretta and Dave let me get out of the chariot and Dave snapped up my bag to carry it off to my room.
No one greeted me as I walked through the double doors, that fact somehow equally irritating and comforting.
No fanfare, but there wasn’t any before. Not since I’d officially moved in.
I took my time walking through the entrance hall, not even bothering to consider that I might be late. Something I used to be hyper aware of when I lived with Lukas and his inability to arrive places on time.
I was too busy taking in every little detail. The stone walls and the rich navy tapestries. The silver accents and light wood.
Nostalgia burst through my chest like fireworks sparking in the night sky.
I took my time walking to the dining room, letting my hands trail over tables and the walls, feeling for differences. My hands felt warm, cherished, like the house was thanking me for returning.
I walked in solitude to the grand dining room, built to house at least fifty people. I hoped it would just be four tonight, though. The last thing I wanted to do was to sit and plaster a practiced smile on my face when I felt my throat constricting with the threat of tears.
Pushing open the large oak doors to the room, I found it empty, but adorned. A dark blue runner draped across the center of the driftwood table, cut raw to show its natural shape. It would have been a massive tree when it was alive and now it sat splayed open for people to eat off.
At least it had lived a long life, I thought, as I ran my hand along a few of the age lines.
Without thinking, I walked briskly to my end of the table, coming up behind my chair. It was high back, painted silver, with a plush cushion on the seat. The second my hands wrapped around the familiar curve of the side posts, I had the sickening thought that I wasn’t sure this was my chair anymore.
Looking at the table, there were clear crystal chargers already laid out. One in front of me, one at the head of the table, and two across from me.
It made sense, to put Lukas in the seat of authority and place Dominic and Rose next to each other, but my traitorous heart wanted to believe it was oriented that way because I always sat to Lukas’s left.
My near spiral was interrupted by laughing. One deep, rough around the edges like it was only used in private. Another light and airy and familiar.
Dominic and Rose pushed through the doors a second later, followed by Max, whose hair was a little shorter than I remembered.
Not odd, given I hadn’t seen them for a year.
Dominic and Rose were pressed close, his hand somewhere on her back or neck while she was turned toward him.
And they both were laughing. Rose looked up at the high ceilings, at the chandeliers that hung there and then to the massive glass doors that led outside.
“Our ancestors really screwed us,” Rose said, eyes wide with wonder. Like she was taking in familiar details in a new light.
Dominic’s smile quirked up a little at the edges. I’d never seen it before. Ever. “If you want a bigger house, sweetheart, all you have to do is ask.”
Rose beamed at him, and I felt a pang of fear. I really hoped he loved her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head, “I like our house.”
