Page 49 of Secrets & Desires
“You know it.” She stood on her toes to kiss him. “Tomorrow, NoxRenaud.”
Prom night.Ariel and Amber got ready separately—each in their own rooms, not communicating at all. As she finished her makeup and slipped into the grey dress, Ariel considered going to see her sister, trying to bridge the strange chasm that had opened up between them lately. She had lied to Nox yesterday about what was causing the void—it was Nox himself. Ariel knew Amber was in love with him, and did not blame her sister—or Nox—for it. Nox was easy to love. Amber knew she would never be with him, and to her credit, she didn’t even try to take him from her sister, but…her way of dealing with it was to keep her distance from bothofthem.
Ariel tapped cautiously on her sister’sdoor. “Ambs?”
“Still changing.” Flat tone, no invitation in it. Arielsighed.
“Okay…well, I’m just going to grab a smoke outside. Distract Mom if she comes to lookforme?”
“Iwill.”
Ariel steppedout into the sultry Louisiana evening. Sweat popped up on her skin immediately and she cursed, hoping she wouldn’t end up with pit stains—this chiffon was too good for that kind of treatment.Not that Nox would give a crap, she smiled to herself fondly, shaking a cigarette from her pack. Her mother probably knew she smoked, but it was a strict don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy in herhouse.
She walked around the main house to where she sneaked her smokes, out of sight of the house. Hidden by the trees draped with Spanish moss, she breathed in the night air. The bayou was extra smelly on nights like this, the stench of rot creeping across the night. Ariel flicked her butt to the ground and, using the toe of her shoe to stub it out, she turned to gobackin.
The first thing she registered was a stinging in her neck then a wave of breathlessness as whatever had been injected into her flooded her veins. She barely had time to acknowledge that someone had grabbed her before everything went dark and shepassedout.
Cold.She was lying down and whatever it was, it was cold against her back. She shivered despite the heat of the night, and then opened her eyes. Her head whirled, her eyes were blurry and her chest felt heavy. Focusing, she saw him…she assumed it was a him. He was sitting on her legs, straddling her. He was so still that it frightened her, as if he had been waiting for her to wake. Ariel looked around and felt a wave of panic. They were in agraveyard.
“What the hell is going on?” Her voice trembled as the black-hooded figure seemed to look right at her. She couldn’t see any features, and the stranger’s silence was making her panic even more. “Please…whatever you want…” Her voice trailed off when she saw the knife in his hand, and she knew. “Oh, god, please…pleasedon’t…”
He didn’t listen. Before Ariel could scream, he clamped a gloved hand over her mouth and plunged the knife into her belly over and over. Ariel’s back arched up as she moaned in agony as he murdered her. His hand fell away from her mouth when he saw she was struggling tobreath.
“Why?” Ariel gasped as her killer sat back to watch her bleed out. A tear ran down her cheek. “Please tellme…why?”
But he neveransweredher.
Nox was gettinginto his car when his mother called him back. Her face was tense. “Amber’s on the telephone. She’s hysterical, and I can’t understand what she’s saying.” It took Nox a few moments to realize Amber was telling her Ariel wasmissing.
They foundher body the next morning and a devastated, distraught Nox drove straight to the cemetery. He fought with a police officer who wouldn’t let him near her, so much so that they had to cuff him to calm him down. “Please, please let meseeher.”
In the end, to appease him—he was the son of a powerful New Orleans scion, after all—and possibly to gauge his reaction, they let himseeher.
The sight of Ariel, gutted and broken, her grey chiffon soaked in blood, lying pale and dead on the grave brought Nox to his knees. Something insidehimdied.
The funeral was hell for Nox. He barely acknowledged anyone else, not even Amber or Teague when they tried to reach him. Amber was destroyed by her sister’s death—she was changed foreverbyit.
Eventually, the society around them got back to normal, but Nox and Amber spent more time together, feeling disenfranchised from everyone. The police had no leads. Nox had a water-tight alibi, and so the police quickly ran out of clues. The case got put on the backburner, much to the rage of Duplas and Renaud families. Then almost exactly a year later, Tynan Renaud murdered his wife and son and shot himself, and Ariel’s case was pushed even further to thebackground.
Now
Livia strokedNox’s face as he told her everything. “I always felt guilty because when my family died, Ariel was almost forgotten by our circle, by the press, by the police.” He sighed, leaning his forehead against hers. “I swore I would never let that happen and yet I was so utterly destroyed by what my father had done… It was almost as if Ariel had been relegated to a place where young, beautiful women are viewed as ‘probable targets’ just by being young, beautiful, andfemale.”
Livia kissed his eyelids. “Sadly, though, it does seem to be a truth. We women always have to be careful. Don’t go out alone at night, because a man might rape or kill you. Don’t dress a certain way, we’re told, as if we’re the ones responsible for not ‘making’ a man rape or kill us. It’s sick and disgusting, but it is how we live in thisworld.”
Nox shook his head. “Christ. What a messed-up waytolive.”
“And yet normal for every woman on the planet.” She sighed, thinking about the terror of her recent assault. How close she had come todeath.
“Can I just apologize for mygender?”
Livia laughed. “No, you cannot. You’re one of the good ones, Nox, and don’t forget it. Don’t take the responsibility of others on your shoulders. Just promise me we’ll raise our sons not to think of women solely as sexualbeings.”
Nox kissed the tips of her fingers. “Absolutely promise…and,oursons?”
Livia flushed. “I’m not presuming anything, just…if ithappens.”
“God, I hope so.” He pressed his lips to hers, pulling her close. “I want a bunch of them with you, Livia. But you’re young and you have your career in frontofyou.”
