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Nok just laughs and gives me a playful shove towards the food table. “Eat. Mingle.”
“Are you seriously about to leave me?”
His eyes flare that light shade of brown and the reflection of the fire in them just makes them so much more dramatic. “I have people to see. My dad invited you, not me.”
And he’s back to being an asshole. But he also has a point. I don’t want him lingering around if he doesn’t want to hang with me. He has his own family and friends here. I’m good alone. I’ve had enough of him today too.
“Fuck you then,” I say with a shrug.
“Nokosi,” Dasan calls and approaches us with Nash by his side.
I’m surprised when Nash hugs me like I didn’t slash his brother’s tires on Friday night. “Dad said you’d be coming.” I keep my arms limp by my side for a moment because I don’t want to hug Nash in front of Nokosi. Or at all.
But then I remember how Nok reacted to Loki and I return the hug with more fervor and give him my most seductive smile.
“How have you been?” I ask, keeping my hand on his arm when we part.
His familiar eyes, so warm and lacking the harshness that rest around Nok’s, scan my face pleasantly. “Good. You didn’t respond to my texts.”
“I didn’t get any texts.”
He shrugs, a confused frown on his face. “I sent two on Monday. They said read.”
I click my tongue and glance at Nok who is staring at my hand on Nash’s arm. He doesn’t like it. I can tell. I also have a feeling he has something to do with the missing texts seeing as I was with him that day.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” Nash asks and offers me his arm. “I’ll introduce you to my grandmother. She’s been eager to meet you.”
“Why?”
“I’ll take her,” Nok insists. “She’s my guest.”
Oh, and suddenly I’m his guest again?
“It’s fine, Nok. Your brother is better company anyway.” I point to his group of friends that he usually hangs with on the track. “Go be with them. Tell Vienna I said hi.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw, I see it before I turn to his father and thank him for inviting me. He nods and tells me to enjoy myself before moving on to someone else.
“Nokosi!” Vienna yells over the chatter of voices and the crackling fire.
“Don’t worry, baby brother, I’ve got her,” Nash assures him and hooks an arm around my neck.
I wind my hand around his waist and smugly grin at Nok. I know it’s driving him wild. I love that too.
They stare at each other, unblinking, both a level height though Nok has more brawn than Nash, they’re both so amazingly toned I have to wonder who would win in a contest of strength.
“Fight, fight, fight,” I chant playfully and both glare at me.
Their glaring contest is broken when somebody moves towards us, her frame hunched. Two women flank her sides, holding each of her arms as she walks.
“Elisi.” Nok steps forward to pay respects to his grandmother who is wearing the most magnificent crown of feathers and beads on her head, wisps of white hair peek out around it.
He leans in to kiss her cheeks and then so does Nash, releasing me first of course.
When she looks at me with eyes so blue they look almost fully white, I feel a chill run down my body.
“This is our grandmother,” Nash explains. “Elisi, this is our friend Lilith.”
Her eyes scan my face but I’m not sure if she’s actually seeing me. Could she be blind? I don’t want to insult her by asking. “Come to me, child. Allow me to hold your hand.”
I glance at Nok, unsure, but he gives me an encouraging nod. Stepping forward, I place my cold hand in her warm, satin soft yet wrinkly one and she curls her other hand over the top. I’ve never been one to believe in magic or spirits or anything of the sort, but when her eyes join mine, I feel as though she can see into my soul. Her grip tightens, her eyes lock me in place, and I can’t move, or even blink. I can’t look away. It’s as though I’ve been cemented to this very spot and everything around me loses focus. I can’t hear anything but the sound of my breath in my ears and my heartbeat in my throat.
It’s disconcerting, disorienting…
“You poor child,” the old lady whispers. “So much grief. So much death.”
Like a plug in my mind is slowly lifting, water spills up from a drain that I had locked tight, and my eyes fill with tears. Real tears.
“No,” I beg, trying to pull my hand free as feelings I’ve never allowed myself to feel suddenly bombard me like a tsunami of fire and ice.
