Page 40 of Gods of Prey
The bitterness in her voice gives me pause. Before I can respond, my phone buzzes with a text from Jovie.
Downstairs. Can I come up?
I show the screen to Sienna. “Should I tell her yes?”
She hesitates, then nods. “But I’m staying invisible. I need to hear what she says about Bash.”
I text back a quick affirmative and move to open the door. Jovie arrives moments later, her waves windblown from the Seattle breeze. She’s carrying two coffee cups.
“I brought you a latte. You always order one,” she says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thanks for seeing me.”
“Of course.” I accept the coffee and step aside to let her in. I can feel Sienna hovering near the kitchen, watching. “Everything all right?”
Jovie sinks onto my couch, clutching her cup like a lifeline. “Not really. Bash is...I’m worried about him.”
I sit in the chair across from her. “What’s going on?”
“Something is off with him. I haven’t seen him this fixated on something in...quite a while.” She looks up at me, her dark eyes troubled. I know what she means without hearing her say it.Since Sienna’s death. “I know you probably think I’m out of my mind for coming to you about this. A virtualstranger.”
“I don’t think anything close to that,” I assure, noting the insecurity in her tone.
This is a woman who has been convinced she’s a nuisance. The exact opposite of the woman in Aurelys. What could have attracted Sebastian to someone so inertly different from what he’s always known?
“I just think he senses something in you, the same way I do, and he’s trying to ignore it. He thinks you’re connected to something bigger. Something about Sienna.”
I keep my expression neutral. “What makes him think that?”
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you any of this. I just don’t know what to do, and something about you is so familiar.” She shakes her head in disbelief.
She’s sensing our essence. Sebastian and I share the same life magic. But I’ve never heard of a mortal who could feel it.
“He says you appeared out of nowhere. That you have no past.” She goes on, pausing to take a sip of her coffee. “And honestly, he’s right. I looked you up too. There’s nothing about you online before this year.”
Mortals and their lack of boundaries.
I feel Sienna move closer, her presence cool at my shoulder.
“I’m a private person,” I supply carefully, shrugging my shoulders to appear less intimidating.
“No one’s that private anymore.” Jovie sets down her cup. “Bash thinks you’re affiliated with the Order, but I don’t think you are. I think you know more about Sienna than you’re letting on.” My stomach drops. “And there’s something else. Bash...he says he’s seeing her again. Like, her ghost.”
I feel Sienna stiffen beside me.
“That must be difficult for him,” I say cautiously. “Grief can manifest in strange ways.”
“It’snotgrief.” Jovie insists, just as she did before, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Because I’ve been seeing her too. For months now.”
Months. She’s been seeing the Goddess of Death for months. Time in the mortal realm moves differently than in ours. Faster. These weeks have likely only been a day or two in Aurelys. But even then, her claiming to see Sienna for so long proves again that Sienna may have returned to this realm before I summoned her to Aurelys. And more than the singular visit Sienna has already admitted to paying for their wedding.
“Even before she died in this—” She stops abruptly, eyes widening as if she’s said too much.
In this what?I wonder, glancing briefly to where I know Sienna hovers.
What secrets are you keeping from me, goddess?
“Jovie.” I lean forward. “What do you mean, ‘before she died in this?’”
She shakes her head quickly. “Nothing. Just...I’ve been having dreams. About a different life. Where Sienna is still alive.” She laughs nervously. “Sounds crazy, right?”
