Page 64 of Once a Villain
Aaron stood above them on the slope, moonlight silver in his hair. Joan could tell from his expression that he’d heard at least some of their conversation; that he’d seen the almost kiss. The cool air, so welcome earlier, felt suddenly, painfully biting.
“Jamie wants you to come back inside,” Aaron said. “He’s figured something out.”
“Aaron—” Joan started, but he was already turning away. A wave of misery hit her out of nowhere, startling her almost as much as Aaron’s unexpected appearance. Her chest seized painfully, as if her heart had cracked right at the center. She wanted to go after him. She wanted to pull Nick closer. She felt... She didn’t know how she felt.
Beside her, she heard Nick get to his feet. She lifted her gaze to him and saw that he was watching Aaron with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
Joan’s chest seized again as she walked back to the house. Her feelings were a tangled mess. Her heart was still thundering from the almost kiss. And yet... she felt so strange and unsettled.
Nick was quiet beside her. He’d surely registered the odd moment with Aaron on the hill, but he didn’t probe her about it. Joan didn’t know what she’d have said if he had.
His hand brushed against hers comfortingly. Joan wanted to lean into him. At the same time, she knew she had to keep a clear head. With luck, they’d find Eleanor soon. But the last time they’d confronted her, she’d defeated them.
Even if they won this time... Joan and Nick had nearly kissed tonight, but neither of them had made any promises about what would happen after they’d stopped Eleanor. For all Nick had saidI’d choose you, Joan knew his heart. He wouldn’t stand by if humans continued to be consumed as prey. He might side with Joan, but not with monsters—and Joan was still half-monster, with people she loved on both sides.
Where did that leave them? Where could they go from there?
The front door opened as they reached it, and a man in black stared them down. One of the Oliver security personnel. He tilted his head at Joan, and Nick twitched.
Joan gripped Nick’s wrist warningly. This wasn’t the time to test Aaron’s control over his household. “Lord Oliver wants us upstairs,” she said to the man.
The man’s sneer turned into a snarl, but he shifted aside to let them pass.
Twenty
Nick’s hand brushed Joan’s again as they walked along the hall to the library.
If Eleanor gave me that choice again, I’d choose you again. Every time.
He’d been telling the truth in the garden, she knew. He still loved her, like she loved him. She put a hand over her face, feeling overwhelmed suddenly. Helovedher. Her uncertainty about the future receded slightly. She’d wanted this so much for so long....
“All right?” he murmured. He tugged her closer, and Joan gave in to the urge to press her face to his shoulder for a second, breathing in the warm scent of him.
Everyone was in the library when they arrived, looking exhausted, huge circles under their eyes.
“Finally!” Ruth said, when she saw Joan and Nick. “You missed all the excitement!”
Nick choked, and Joan’s face heated. She could still feel the sweep of his thumb against her cheek, the warmth between them as he’d leaned closer. “Oh?” she managed.
“Well, notthatmuch excitement,” Jamie said. “I just remembered something of how the King planned to lock the timeline.And then Tom and I connected a few dots.” He didn’t seem as animated as Ruth.
Nick pulled up a chair beside Joan’s, the wooden feet scraping against the floor.
“Please don’t scratch the parquetry,” Aaron said. His posh voice drew everyone’s gaze. He was standing at the back of the room, hands in his pockets. His gray suit was still crisp and ironed, and Joan wondered, absurdly, if he’d time-traveled since she’d seen him in the garden. How did his clothes always seem freshly pressed? “In this world, that floor is worth more than you,” Aaron said to Nick.
Nick’s blink was slow, almost puzzled, but it was Ruth who spoke. “We’re making plans to save humanity, and your focus is theparquetry?”
“We can save the world and the floor at the same time,” Aaron said. “Surely.” He stepped over to the seat opposite Joan’s, lifting the chair with exaggeration so that it wouldn’t scrape.
With Aaron facing her, Joan found herself overly aware of Nick’s solid frame; of the way he was frowning a little, turning over Aaron’s insult in his mind.
Aaron himself was glaring at the floor. Whathadhe heard of their conversation in the garden? His jibe at Nick had been much nastier than his usual style. At that thought, the unsettled feeling from the garden returned, bubbling like nausea in the pit of Joan’s stomach.
Jamie cleared his throat.
“Go on,” Joan said. “What did you remember from your time at Court?”
Jamie sat down between Aaron and Tom, who shuffled slightly to make room for him. He leaned forward to answer. “The King was the first person to leash the timeline,” he said, “but the truth was it was never truly under his control. Some part of it was always trying to return itself to its original shape—that of the true timeline.”
