He’s leaning forward now, his fingers threaded between his spread thighs as he says, “When I was little, I used to have trouble falling asleep. So, Maggie used to tell me stories. About the stars, because I’d lie there and watch them.”
He points to where I was lying with the tip of his chin. “She told me a story once about Orion. According to the legend, he was a hunter and one day, he meets these sisters and falls in love with them. He spends years chasing after them, trying to win them over. But Zeus finds out about it and decides to put a stop to it. So he turns the sisters into doves. And they fly away and leave Orion and his undying love behind. Do you know what happened to them?”
Zach’s voice is soft, softer than I’ve ever heard. A lullaby, and he’s telling me a story.
And I’m here, sitting on his bed, listening to it not only with my ears but with every part of my body. I’m listening to his every word as if his are the last words I’ll ever hear.
It’s like a dream.
I clutch the sheet that I don’t even remember putting on myself. “No.”
“The sisters are now a constellation up in the sky called Pleiades. They are seven stars. Though, you can only see six of them for some reason.”
The Pleiades. This mansion with seven towers.
“The Prince who built this place decades and decades ago must’ve been into stars,” Zach murmurs, reading my thoughts.
And probably, this Prince gets his love for stars from his ancestors.
“And Orion,” I whisper. “What happened to him?”
“He’s a constellation too. And centuries later, every night, he still chases after them across the sky. He’s probably going to chase after them till the end of time.”
There’s a smile on his lips. In the darkness I can’t tell if it’s real or not but it still has an effect on me.
An effect that makes me whisper, “It’s a beautiful story.”
“You think so?”
I nod. “Yes. Loving someone so much that you become immortal like a star. So you could love them forever. Yeah, it’s beautiful.”
It’s something I want. So, so badly.
It’s something that I’m afraid I’ll never have. Because of him. Because of how much I hate him, the guy who told me the most breathtaking tale of love.
The guy who thinks love makes you bleed.
Zach’s smile widens and morphs into a chuckle. He sits back and throws out a laugh. A rusty, harsh laugh. “I told you that story, Blue, because it’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard. I remember laughing the first time I heard it. And the reason I keep going back to it is because it makes me believe in how shitty and miserable love is. How lonely.”
I don’t even know why he thinks that. But I can see that it’s something he believes in with his very soul. With every fiber of his being and with every dark thought in his head.
“Love isn’t misery,” I say finally, because I have to say something. “It’s not shitty. It’s not lonely. It doesn’t make you bleed. And if it does, well then, it’s not love. My parents were in love and they weren’t miserable. They were happy. Love is good. It’s… magic. It’s supposed to make your life easier, better.”
Zach studies me for a few heartbeats, his fingers on his mouth again. “I didn’t think it was possible but that was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard.” I narrow my eyes at him but he keeps going, “Besides, it’s been a thousand years of chasing and the guy can’t take a hint and apparently, neither can you.”
Thrusting the sheets aside, I stand.
Only, I forgot about the blisters and the pain, and I stumble. “Fuck.”
I would’ve probably fallen on the floor if not for a strong grip around my arm. His fingers flex on my bare skin when he looks at my feet. “What the fuck happened?”
My toes have splotches and ugly looking boils around them, and I’m sure my skin must be ripped on the bottom and in the nook where my foot meets my ankle.
Ugh.
Stupid blue sandals.
Before I can answer him, he comes down on his knees. Those fingers of his vanish from around my arm and grip my left ankle. I have no choice but to hold on to his shoulders, his very hard and curved shoulders that ripple under his threadbare t-shirt as he moves my foot this way and that.