Page 69 of Little Wing
“Don’t worry," she started as soon as I turned around. “I’ve left the front desk covered.” She crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair. “What’s going on here?”
Glancing between her and Mateo, I buried my face in my hands. “I don’t even fucking know. I’m trying to figure out if there’s anything I can do to help with this sentencing.”
Quinn brushed her frayed copper hair out of her face and glanced at her partner, who eyed her just as cautiously. Their glances said plenty before my brother’s chair scrunched beneath his weight.
“Claim her,” Mateo stated casually.
“No—hold on!”
“Hear him out, Silas,” Quinn urged me as I began to grip the arms of my chair tightly, leaving small punctures, like freckles, all over the leather. Noticing this, Quinn sighed and motioned once again to my brother. “Mattie, you better use a full sentence and fast before he goes feral.”
“Right.” Mateo leaned forward and pushed himself up to his feet. He stepped behind Quinn’s chair, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Listen, her brother turned her and clearly that connection has resulted in some shit that she was forced to run away from. I mean, do you blame her? The dude is a nutcase. Feeling that sort of connection and not losing your mind? Lo’s a lot stronger than she lets on.”
“The goal is to free her.” I was fuming. “I’m not going to get her out of a tether just to trap her in another. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Even I could see the way Quinn visibly winced.
“Quinn, I—”
“Is that what you consider me and Mattie? Master and servant?” Quinn asked, as she held more bite in her tone.
No, no, I didn’t think that. Not in the slightest. They loved each other. They made the decision to stand by each other for decades, even as Mateo and I were still figuring out who we were as individuals after moving overseas. Quinn and Mateo found each other despite all the odds against them, and they decided to get married just like mortals did. On top of that, they cemented their devotion to each other by claimingeach other.
“He may be her maker, but that connection isn’t the only one that can anchor her to someone. You know this,” Quinn continued. “Or is it that you don’t want something like that with her? Silas, you’re over two hundred years old, nearly three hundred. You’ve never settled withanyone aside from a quick fuck. This is the longest time I’ve seen you so enthralled with a woman.”
“I second that,” Mateo chimed in. “And I’ve known you the longest.”
True… everything they said was true. I couldn’t stop picturing myself tasting her. I wanted her blood in my mouth as I kissed her and loved her. The first time we had sex; I had to keep my mind from wandering to what it would be like having a future with her. To have someone beside me at last; who smiled and laughed and lived. But as much as I wanted it, would Lotus want to rush from one tether to another?
Quinn was right. Luca was her maker, but I was her lover, her partner. And she loved me.
Noticing my brain on the verge of short-circuiting, Quinn got up from her chair and held out her hand for Mateo to take. “Think on it. That’s the best thing I can recommend. Because it helped me, Silas. Mattie’s anchor helped me when I left my nest. Even after all these years, the tether I feel the strongest sense of comfort in is the one I have from our claiming.”
No matter how much Mateo and Quinn joked around, they had genuine love for each other. Something I felt I could have with Lotus should she feel comfortable and willing. I wanted Lotus in a way that went beyond sex, beyond the feeling that words could barely define. Even telling her that I loved her didn’t feel like it was enough. Swimming in the thought, I pulled out my phone to see if she had texted me. Nothing beyond a quick check-in that she was alright and heading home after her shift at work. I glanced at the time and grabbed my coat before making my way out of the office to head back home.
I was riding the high of possibility, hoping that Lotus wouldn’t shoot me down, and that I hadn’t interpreted our relationship differently.The way I felt and what I wanted for us was unlike anything I had ever considered before.
I’d need a fucking drink to get through this…
The mind could truly be a fickle thing. Even after I met with the detective and opened the flood gates on all my trauma over the past few centuries, I still didn’t feel certain of the outcome of Luca’s sentencing. Detective Morello tried to assure me that my testimony was going to be a great help to me, and even help push the sentencing up to an earlier date than he first thought. That, however, did very little to eliminate my anxiety.
Silas continued to research ways that I could be separated from the tether to my brother, especially if he would be given the death sentence. My brain anticipated the worst, drowning in the what ifs while Silas tried to calm me down.
But truly—what would happen to me? Would I, as Luca’s spawn, also cease to exist? Would a switch inside me turn off? Would I die?
The questions kept coming in waves, mainly on days when I had no other distraction. Work was done for the night, and I got home before Silas. For the first time in a while, I was truly alone in his home. Mateo and Quinn had taken to spending more nights at her place, which gave me and Silas enough time to try quieting my weary mind.
All I could do now was wait…
Wait for news about my brother’s case…
Wait to learn what would happen to me should my brother cease to exist…
Wait for Silas to come home, so I could shift my focus to something that reminded me of what it felt like to be happy and safe.
I grabbed a can of crimson from the fridge and walked back to Silas’s room where I could watch and listen to the gentle pitter-patter of rain against the window overlooking Fairhaven. Once I took a few sips, I set the can down on the nightstand and lay down on the bed, untucking the bottom of my dress from between my legs. Before I could ease into a gentle slumber, I heard the door open and the greeting I loved to hear.
“Lo? You home?”
