Page 161 of Caelum

My mouth worked for a second and I recalled what she’d told us that very first day she’d arrived. “Christ, you already told us this. You havemass birthdays there.” Guilt churned inside me, but it was swallowed up by excitement.

Eve was eighteen.

Most here had sex before that, but Eve? Hell, I wasn’t even sure if she’d have sex at eighteen, never mind earlier. Of course, now was seriously not the time to be thinking with my cock.

Ashamed of myself, as well as the fact we’d all fucking forgotten, I whispered, “Happy birthday,Coração.”

“Thank you, Nestor,” she whispered back, and she shuffled closer until there were a scant few inches between us.

“Don’t you want to be eighteen?” I asked, wondering if that was why she sounded so confused and sad.

“I’m not sure it matters.”

It mattered, just not for the reason she thought it didn’t.

Wait a second…

“You told us this in front of Lori, the housemistress, didn’t you?”

She tensed at my side. “Yes.”

“She’ll have told Nicholas. With Merry and Damon going, I bet that’s another reason why your classes started today. Because you’ve turned eighteen.” I had to admit, the news filled me with relief. We’d been concerned that someone on the faculty had picked up on Eve’s numerous oddities. Instead, they just thought she needed to quicken the pace where her education was concerned.

“That makes sense,” she whispered, but her tone seemed despondent, and that hurt me deep inside.

Something occurred to me, and I blurted out, “Are you homesick?”

A snort escaped her, and it was chased by a giggle that had me relaxing. “No!”

“Are you sure? You must miss your parents?” I queried tentatively, but she shook her head, and her mouth turned down at the edges in a way that loaded me with regret.

“No. I don’t. Isn’t that awful?”

“Not really. I don’t miss mine.”

“Why not?”

“Because they abandoned me,” I told her earnestly, and was surprised when she reached over and cupped my chin.

“I won’t abandon you, Nestor.”

My lips curved. “I didn’t think you would.” I reached up, clasped her hand in mine, and kept it right where it was. “My parents were just as religious as yours in their own way.”

She bit her lip. “They were?”

“Yes. They thought I was possessed.”

“Mine would have thought that too,” she commented then nodded when she tacked on, “If they’d known…”

Humming under my breath, I said, “Your control is remarkable, Eve. I’m not sure if that’s because of the eighth soul or if it’s just a survival mechanism.”

“I think it was probably that. I was terrified I’d be found out. As it was, I spent so long being scared that it dampened all my traits. There were flare-ups, but nothing major. Nothing like I’m seeing here now that I’m free.” She swallowed, and her fingers squeezed mine. “I didn’t realize your parents were religious.” I heard her relief, knew she didn’t feel so alone now we had something we both shared in our past. “What happened?”

Nodding my understanding, I sucked down some air that was loaded with her scent and, with the thought of easing her, whispered, “When it first started showing that I was unusual, they dragged me over to the church every day. I hated that church. Hated it so much. I swore my knees used to ache from the cold because they had me praying so much to be normal that I was on them all the time.” I winced at the memory, uncertain why I was dragging up a topic that would probably give me nightmares later on. But, the truth was, I just wanted to make it so that Eve didn’t feel so alone. I also wanted her to know me better.

Knowing me better meant becoming aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“I’m sorry, Nestor,” she whispered when I fell silent, but her words stirred me.

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