Page 25 of Caelum

He moved to press his lips to my temple after a moment’s hesitation.The gesture had me closing my eyes at the silken feel. When he backed away, it surprised and saddened me because he smelled so good.

I turned and saw Nestor standing there with my hand still in his. It surprised me when he did the same, kissed my other side, but I didn’t pull back. It was a gentle gesture. A soft one that made me feel, of all things, protected. Stupid, perhaps, but it did.

“Good night, Eve.”

“Night, Nestor.” To Eren, who was hovering over by the door to my room now, I whispered, “Night, Eren.”

His smile was taut, and I knew he was relieved to be getting out of there.

When the three boys, well,men—I discerned the difference now after feeling their touch on me—left my room, I sank back against the window. The cool glass felt good against my body, and I wished it were cooler. I felt like I had a fever. Like I was overheating from the inside out.

Gnawing on my bottom lip, I let my gaze drift around my new room. It was nothing like my other bedroom at the cabin. I’d shared that with my brother and sister until they’d both been of age and had married, leaving the cabin for ones of their own.

Was it terrible that I didn’t miss my parents? Not even my siblings?

We hadn’t been close because I’d never been able to be close to anyone. Not since I was eleven, anyway.

It saddened me that the only thing I felt was joy at being away from those who had purported to love me, even as they’d planned to marry me off to the leader of our people.

With a shaky sigh, I got to my feet and walked toward one of two doors. When I pulled open the first, I saw clothing. The fabrics were in bright colors with a strange stretch when I plucked at them. On the floor, there were shoes like the boys had been wearing. They were wide-toed, made from a material with holes in them, with a kind of spongy sole. The clothes made me blush because there weren’t many layers to them. I just hoped they fit.

It was a relief to close that particular door, and when I opened the next one, I gaped at what I saw.

The room was the size of my bedroom back at the cabin. Where the outhouses had always been at the property line to avoid the smell, relieving oneself had always been a grim chore.

Here?

This was a marvel.

I peered at the different facilities, pushing buttonshere and turning handles there. I soon realized that one was for waste, while the other was for washing. Then there was a large one for bathing that I assumed was for me to stand beneath.

The water was cold, but if I turned it to the red part of the handle, it warmed up as if by magic.

It was silly, I supposed, to be frightened of this room. As much as I was amazed, I was also taken aback.

This room epitomized my new life.

This was the day to the night of before.

I had a steep learning curve coming my way, in more ways than just one.

SIX

EREN

“Is it burning?” I asked, eying Stefan as he grabbed the back of the neckline of my shirt and dragged it over his head.

We’d made it back to my room without mentioning what we’d noticed back in Eve’s, but it had been hard. I knew I wasn’t the only one curious about what the hell was going on.

“Yeah. Like a motherfucker,” he ground out, peering over his shoulder to look into the mirror.

Rows and rows of text had appeared as if by magic on his back. Scored into his flesh, which was raised and bleeding, making me grateful my tee had been black and not white.

“It can’t mean what I think it means, can it?” Nestor murmured, staring at the words that took up half of Stefan’s spine in an endless scrolling italic font that made it very difficult to even read what it was intent on declaring.

“She’s my mate,” Stefan confirmed, his lips a flat line.

“How can she be? You know it doesn’t work that way,” I argued, even though my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

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