This was what I’d always wanted. The room was silent, quieter than it had ever been. I’d slept so soundly that Maddox had crawled into bed without even waking me.
Which reminded me…
I went to the door and leaned out so I could shout down the stairs. “You’re washing my bedsheets, too! They’re full of jam and fur because of you.”
Maddox grumbled, but there was a laugh behind it. This seemed almost normal, like we did this every morning. Nothing about his presence seemed uncomfortable or out of place. He slid into my world so seamlessly that I knew I would miss him when he inevitably left again.
He didn’t belong to me, for one thing. I could yearn for the stalwart detective all I wanted, but he would have a fated mate out there, waiting for him. I couldn’t lay claim to someone who would never belong to me, especially when my Reaper duties would claim my life, eventually.
What would he do when I was gone? Whose arcana would he feed from? I’d promised myself that I would prove Hel wrong by keeping Maddox’s hunger sated. Not only were we uncertain of the consequences of his arcana leeching, but I wouldn’t be around forever.
I flinched when I heard a bang downstairs. Fumbling, I ran to the stairs only to find Vi standing in the foyer with a huge grin on her face. My heart hammered uncertainly as I recalled all the times Bastien had sent zombies after me.
Vi’s face fell. I quickly tried to pull myself together and force a smile onto my face. Of course, Vi looked to Maddox. I shook my head. That wasn’t the problem.
At the door, I paused and looked back at Maddox. I wanted to say something, but all my words crashed together and became a lump in my throat. He met my gaze. A small smile reached his lips. As he glanced around himself, a bit of a flush spread over his cheeks.
I laughed. Vi interrupted the moment by yanking me outside. The door closed behind me, cutting me off from Maddox. An emptiness hit me, the hollow void screaming as a wild wind ripped through it.
For a moment, I considered asking Vi if that was how she felt without Morgan, but she was here without him. That pretty much proved that their connection was different. She didn’t feel halved without him. They were two, whole people on their own that worked well together.
Whatever I felt with Maddox was different.
We went into town and found a cute little bar serving brunch. Outside, on the patio, we watched people walking up and down the street. We were quiet for a while. Vi clearly couldn’t stand it.
“So,” she said, drawing out the word. “What’s going on with the two of you?”
I snatched up my drink and sipped from the tiny straw to keep from having to respond.
Cerri groaned. Her head fell back. She stared into the sky for a long while. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been in the middle of a fight with the local fae queen. I’d been assisting, of course. Bastien had kidnapped Cerri and brought her to the edge of Beryl’s lake without thinking about what kind of trouble that was going to stir.
She clearly didn’t want to talk about it, though. From what we’d learned that day, Cerri likely had a lot to work through.
So, I took over the conversation. “Have any of you noticed your arcana acting up? Or…uh, discrepancies in the world?”
I had no idea how to ask what I needed to know because it wasn’t like they could tell that ghosts were gone. Cerri’s arcana had a lot to do with life, seeing as we were polar opposites of one another. Vi was tied to one of the more popular afterlives. There was a chance that either of them would have noticed something amiss.
But they shared a look before turning to me. My stomach dropped. I pressed my lips into a firm line.
Shit.
It’s just me.
Cerri’s brows vaulted. “There was one night that I got a call from Ryder.”
I perked up. But what Cerri said made me regret my excitement.
“Ness’s heart stopped the other night. He called me in a panic because she was dead again.” Cerri paused and shook herself as if sayingagainwasn’t something she’d expected.
It was the truth, though. It seemed that whatever kept Ness alive had been cut off for a moment. At least…that’s what I hoped.
“She’s okay now. Right?” I asked nervously.
Cerri nodded. “Ness woke up while Ryder was on the phone with me. That’s not the only thing that’s happened, though. I can’t seem to keep anything alive, either. I thought you were pulling some heavy arcana work, but that’s not the problem. Is it?”
I shook my head. “I can’t put my finger on it, but something isn’t right.”
Vi seemed to think about it for a moment. She rocked back, her chair on two legs. “I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. The only thing strange is that I haven’t heard from Dad in a while. He’s been chattier since the apocalypse. He and Mom were going on a lot of dates for a while. It’s like Heaven and Hell have been cut off? Mom says she can’t get ahold of him.”