Page 7 of SIN Bone Deep

“Yes,” he said with a soft smile.

It was, after all, a small town. Perhaps I had served him in the coffee shop, I reasoned, but I did not believe myself. I was certain that I would remember him had we ever encountered each other.

“I was… looking for my sister.” It felt safe standing with him in the dark, and the contrast to how I had felt before encountering him was stark, bringing my mind back to Nova and the reason I was wandering the path towards the old settlement. “Did you see her pass this way?”

“I see only you.”

My breath caught and I looked up at him again, searching the darkness for the details of his face. The effect of shadow and the shifting distant light of the fire meant that his features were revealed in slices, hidden as much as was revealed, the details mysterious, and the whole never seen at once.

“Do you attend events like this frequently?” He asked before I could gather my thoughts.

“No.” My answer was startled from me with a laugh. “Absolutely not. This is my first.” His eyes tracked my restless gestures, and I realized I was gesturing with the bottle. I offered it to him. “More wine?”

He wrapped his fingers around mine and guided the bottle to his lips, before guiding it to mine. “This…” He said softly as the wine spilled over my tongue. “Is extraordinary.”

“We make it ourselves,” I told him after swallowing. “My family.” I decided to get it over with. “On the hill,” I gestured up to where the lighthouse beyond it beamed light out towards the water, brightening the sky and Vossen House stood in dark silhouette. Several windows glowed warmly with light.

“Normally my sister and I watch these parties from our house,” I added. “But she has friends…” I said to explain our descent down the hill. “Of a sort,” I amended.

“And now you are here, with me,” his hand cupped my elbow, stroking down my forearm until my palm rested on his. His skin was cool to the touch, his palm slightly calloused, and his hand much larger than mine. He held my eyes as our fingers linked.

“Yes,” I barely breathed the word. We were going to kiss, I thought. He would be my first real kiss, as I didn’t count that awkward, teeth-striking kiss with Jonathan Hale in ninth grade that he’d afterward claimed only to have done on a dare.

“Nyx!” Nova appeared suddenly out of the shadows. She was dishevelled, barefoot, her hair a mess, and breathless as if she had been running. “Give me that,” she grabbed the bottle from my hand and my wrist, tugging me along the path behind her. “It’s time to go home.”

“Oh, but…” I twisted to look over my shoulder, but Ender had disappeared again into the shadows as if he had never been there at all.

“It’s late. It’s really late,” Nova said under her breath, avoiding the firelight and those around it. She didn’t let go of my wrist until we were well away from the party, and then she released me and paused to drink heavily from the bottle, emptying it completely.

“Is everything alright Nova?” I asked her, warily for her behaviour was erratic and intoxicated. She had obviously finished off the other bottle of wine whilst I had wandered the beach and encountered Ender.

I wondered where he had gone and whether I would ever see him again. Perhaps, if I was accepted to the academy, I would see him there…

“It sucks,” Nova exploded the words angrily as she started up the stairs. I followed on her heels, prepared to catch her if she slipped. The stairs were partially naturally formed, partially carved out by hand, and eroded by the sand-filled wind. They could be treacherous if the sand had built up enough to create a slippery surface to the stone, and due to their unevenness. “It sucks to be us, Nyx. It sucks to be a Vossen. I wish I was a Smith, or a Harrow, or a Norman.”

“I don’t,” I was vaguely insulted by her vehemence. “I like being a Vossen. A Smith, a Harrow, or a Norman couldn’t light a candle by will or bring rain during a drought. Mortensby might not appreciate us,” I guessed that someone had said something that had hurt her. “But they need us, whether they know it or not.”

“Well, maybe we need to teach them a lesson!” Nova grumbled. “Maybe we need to stop helping them until they treat us like…”

“Nova,” I protested. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?” She spat over her shoulder. “Don’t I? Maybe I’m just sick… so sick of being…” She broke off panting slightly under the steep climb as she reached the top of the stairs. She did not wait for me. I paused at the top, watching her disappear into the garden, before turning and looking out over the cliff to where the fire still flickered on the beach.

Was Ender there? Had he joined the group on the sand around the fire? Did he sit even now with his arm around another girl?

I hoped that I would see him again.

She saw through the veil again,

My hope weighs in equal measure with pain.

She is a creature of beauty and light,

And I am a creature of shadow and night.

I wonder if she understands whose heart she holds in her hands?

FOUR

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