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“I’m saying that…I’m going to talk to Mrs. Irvine tomorrow. And I think you should do the same.”

She turned her head to look at me, and after searching her face, I nodded. “I’m going because you want me to. And because I don’t think Mama and Papa will let go of this if we don’t go.”

“They’re still not gonna be happy about us, Fennec. They don’t want us to be together.”

Her voice was shaking as she said that, and I hated seeing how much Mama’s harsh words affected her.

I placed my hand on her cheek and brushed along her skin with my thumb, waiting for the right words to come to mind.

“That’s gonna be their issue, not ours. I love you, and I’m not gonna let go of you because others think differently. It’s our life, Vespyr. I’m not gonna let them tell me what’s right or wrong. You’re my future.”

Her eyes widened with surprise, and I wondered if she had ever pictured me in her future.

When a smile spread across her lips, it was clear that she had. “You’re my future too, Fen.”

I smiled back, cupping her face with both my hands now and pulling her closer to kiss her.

I would fight for her.

For us.

“I love you,” I whispered against her lips, and without needing an answer, I deepened the kiss and licked along her bottom lip.

Her mouth parted to let me in, and with her straddling my hips now, I cupped the back of her head and put my other arm around her back.

Maybe everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours had to happen, and as long as I had her close, there was no reason for me to worry.

40

It wasn’t necessary for Fennec or me to say a word the next morning.

We got up, showered, got dressed, had breakfast with Mama and Papa, and then let Mama take us to Mrs. Irvine’s private practice.

Neither of us said a word as we got out of the car and entered the building, and when we reached the front desk, Mama let out a relieved sigh.

“Hello, both my kids have an appointment. Vespyr at one and Fennec at two,” she told the lady, and she quickly checked for our names on her computer.

“I need them to fill out this form before Mrs. Irvine sees them. You can go sit in the waiting room. Just bring back both forms before seeing Mrs. Irvine,” she said, handing us two clipboards with pens.

“Thank you,” I said, grabbing both and handing one to Fennec.

We walked over to the waiting room and sat down, then I started to fill out my form just like Fennec.

I was nervous, whereas he didn’t seem bothered to be here at all.

He told me not to talk about things I didn’t feel comfortable with, but seeing as Mrs. Irvine’s a psychiatrist, she had to keep the things her patient told her to herself.

Besides…I wanted to come here to know why those dreams occurred, and telling her all the small details about them was the best way of getting a legit answer.

“Do you need help with something?” Mama whispered, leaning over to look at my form.

“No. I’m all done,” I told her, then I got up to bring it back to the lady at the front desk.

Fennec followed me, and once we rounded the corner, he stopped me with a hand on my wrist.

“Remember what I told you, all right? It’ll be okay, and once we’re done here, we’ll leave. Together.”

We had talked about this too.

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