Page 79 of The Immortal's One

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So, with a deep breath, I fulfill an almost decades-long dream and say, “I like you too, Kevin.”

Whatever he says in response is lost to me.

Almost as soon as the words pass my lips, a sharp, stabbing pain shoots through my body. It starts at my chest and jolts down to my stomach.

The phone slips from my grasp. My hands hit the floor as my body collapses forward. I gasp. My lungs burn like they’re on fire. I fight to pull in air.

A thud sounds in the hallway. I snap my head toward the door, my stomach twisting. I'm terrified of being caught with my phone but also desperate for help.

Through my pain, I brace for someone to enter. No one does.

Who’s there?

Are they doing this to me?

“Darcie?” Kevin’s voice penetrates my racing thoughts, but it’s distant and muffled, like I’m underwater.

I can’t respond. I can barely breathe.

I don’t know how long I sit there, hunched over in agony, but the distinct sound of footsteps thuds through my head.

And, with each step that fades down the hall, the debilitating pain begins to recede, leaving me trembling, weak, confused… and undeniably afraid.

22

“This really does look like Thane.”I lean forward, squinting at the marble bust in the mansion’s art gallery on the fourth floor.

My voice sounds too normal. Too light. Like I’m trying to convince myself I’m fine.

But the truth is, my chest still aches. Not from whatever…thatwas back in my room—but from the endless questions that followed. The not-knowing. The fear that whatever happened is going to happen again.

I wrap my arms tightly around myself, pretending I’m just cold. Pretending the memory of that pain hasn’t burrowed into my bones.

I force a bit of levity into my tone and add, “The sculptor captured his disapproving frown perfectly.”

“Stop.” Bella laughs despite the jab at her husband. “You know Thane is handsome.”

I roll my eyes, earning another laugh, before moving on to the next bust, perched on a waist-high white pillar. Thepolished stone gleams in the soft light, not a speck of dust on it—not even in the deep crease along the subject’s nose.

The Immortals who work here do an impeccable job.

It’s been four days since I crashed the Original Nine’s meeting, and things between me and every Immortal aside from Bella are as tense as ever, but I refuse to let their silence get to me. I’ve developed a loose routine to pass my time.

I start each day talking to my dad. To not alert anyone in the mansion that I have my phone, we communicate through text. Dad’s confirmed that he’s feeling great—better than he has in months. He jokes it’s thanks to the crisp, clean Maine air. I can’t tell him the truth.

Lome kept his word. He cured Dad’s cancer.

The elusive Immortal admitted as much when he came to apologize for how things went down at the meeting two days ago.

In hindsight, I should have used the opportunity to ask Lome to explain things that were said in the Immortals’ meeting; things that occupy my thoughts, delaying my sleep by hours each night.

Like the accusation that Lome, Thane, and Des thrive off human suffering… or Eshe’s pointed remarks about how she’s been treated since joining the family.

I should have asked Lome to help me understand. Instead, I’d pressed him for an update on Dad’s health, prepared to demand he follow through on our deal.

But he took the wind out of my angry sails when he confirmed that he’d already visited Dad and healed every cancerous cell in his body.

Happiness overwhelmed me, and I’d burst into tears.