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I force my eyes open.
A heads up?
I suppose it’s better to know that either Tiero or Aiden is here than to be surprised and having to deal with it without a plan.
It gives me a chance to think this through.
“Now are you going to tell me what’s going on, Ash?” Claudette asks again.
I let out a long, slow sigh. “For starters, my name isn’t Ash. It’s Ella.”
Then I start with how I met Tiero. I tell her everything, from the strange raven encounter prior to saving his life, to how my body reacted when I met him and then later Aiden, and how it all rattled me.
Yachts carrying my name, a private island getaway, kidnappings, deaths, and escape attempts. Geez, my life sounds like a soap opera.
“… And now here I am, pregnant and on the run, moving to a different continent to make it less likely for Tiero to find me. But during the meditation, I got the sensation that he’s here. Well, him or Aiden. Either is far from ideal.”
Claudette listened quietly, not interrupting me once, but now asks, “Why would it be so bad if Aiden was here? He sounds like a nice guy.”
He is. And he’s hot as hell. But I don’t say that out loud. Instead, I stare at her.
Doesn’t she get it? Aiden might be the good guy, but he’s bad for my heart.
“Because… because,” I stutter.
“Because I don’t trust myself around him,” I finally admit. “I feel the same way about him, as I did when I first met Tiero. I’m afraid to lose my heart to him too, and everything going pear-shaped again.”
“Your heart would never be lost. It’s safe with both of them,” she says as cryptically as ever, but I let it go.
“Have you ever experienced anything like it?” I look at her, just in time to see an expression of pain flitter across her eyes.
“I have,” is all she says.
“And?” I prompt.
“It didn’t end well. We were young and stupid. But just because that was my experience doesn’t mean it will be the same for you.”
“Well, from where I’m standing, the big, earth-shattering love isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Most women dream of having a man rock their world in the way Tiero and Aiden have. Two months ago, I sure did. But now? I think I prefer the life I had back in Dublin. It was stable and predictable.”
“And a little boring,” she adds, sounding like Rhia.
And just like I would with my closest friend, I playfully nudge her with my elbow, choosing to ignore her teasing remark.
“Seriously though, Claudette. What are the odds of having such a strong reaction to two completely different men in the span of a few weeks?”
Just thinking about them sets off the butterflies.
“How can I have such a deep connection with two men at the same time? Two men who couldn’t be more opposite if they tried?
“To me, Tiero represents the darkness and Aiden the light. I’m attracted to both. What does that say about me?”
Something flickers through Claudette’s eyes. I can’t put my finger on what it is—it’s gone too quickly.
“It says you’re human. There’s light and dark within all of us. The amount of both varies from person to person. Tiero isn’t all dark. Especially now that you brought light into his life.”
At one point, didn’t I think that was the purpose of me being thrown into Tiero’s dark world?
No one appeared happy there.
