Page 1 of Samhain

Prologue

CARTER

NOW

It was a sham marriage.

I knew that. They’d both told me. We’d promised each other honesty, and I believed them. That didn’t stop the throbbing ache in my chest. I used to have a heart there, once upon a time. Now, I only had a hole and a leaking sieve.

I should be there.

I sipped my scotch. It went down smooth and sweet, burning my stomach with enough agony to remind me I was alive, even after everything that’s happened.

“It’s the wedding event of the season, Mark,” said the talking head on the TV, her blond hair bouncing as she stood in front of the Washington estate. “Any moment, Alexei Fairfax will take his place in front of the altar. We’re told five minutes after that, Ivy will walk down the aisle. I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of her wedding dress, and it is to die for.”

What a way to put it. I snorted as I took another drink.

How long had I loved her? How many times had I held her in my arms while she fell apart? Being here, watching it on TV instead of in person, well…I didn’t know which was worse. I had endured this and much more for them, but publicly holding my tongue while they made vows to each other they’d already made to Miri and me took an act of God.

I’m not worthy. Not yet.

“You know, René Calvert designed this dress himself,” said the other presenter, Mark. “It took over two million dollars in diamonds.”

Jesus.

I bet Ivy hated it. She’d rather get married in hot garbage than walk down the aisle in some pretentious sparkling number that weighed a thousand pounds.

I took another drink and winced against my breaking heart, now racing at the mention of a countdown. Lex and Ivy would soon make legal what we had made symbolic in the woods four years ago, and like an itch that wouldn’t go away, my fingers went to the scars on my right palm.

Matching scars, ones we all shared.

Until the end.

We’d promised a lot of things that night. Even more in the nights after it. So many promises we shattered to pieces. And despite that, I never suspected we’d end up here. Spread to the farthest parts of the earth. Drowning our sorrows in liquor and hopelessness and existential dread.

I thought of Miri. What was she doing to ease the pain of today?

Christ, we’d been dreading it for so long now that a part of me was relieved to finally stare it down.

My phone rang, my eldest sister calling for the hundredth time. My family knew how I felt about Ivy, how much today would wreck me despite the years between us. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to them. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone. I let it go to voicemail. Again. It didn’t surprise me when I got a nasty text message after that threatening to leak embarrassing baby pictures of me if I didn’t answer.

Go ahead.

I didn’t care. I didn’t care about much anymore—not since it happened. Not since this ridiculous curse brought us together and tore us apart.

As long as she was leaving me shitty voicemails, she was safe. They were all safe.

My phone buzzed one more time, but the name on the screen made my dead heart give half a thump.

Juliet.

“Hey, you,” I said when I answered.

She greeted me with a sigh. “Hello, Romeo.”

I smiled at the nickname. “I’m glad you called. Where are you?”

“Oh, you know. Locked in my ivory tower.”

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