Page 42 of Outside the Veil
No, not at all.
“Ah. You often turn such a fascinating shade of crimson.”
Fine, maybe a little.
“So I shouldn’t tell you about the five mer-siblings I had in one night?”
All at once?
“Interesting thought, but no. Mind you, I was a wee bit tired in the morning.”
I bet. But if you’re sleeping with multiple partners, don’t some get jealous?
“Sleeping with? That would be one of those odd things you say when you mean something else, wouldn’t it? A…what’s the word…a euphemism. No one was sleeping, bucko.”
You know what I meant.
“Are you quite well? You’re nearly purple now. Truly, I don’t quite understand it but, yes, some of the sidhe can be territorial regarding their lovers. One found me entwined in her husband’s arms. Enraged, she encased me in a prison of hardened swamp mud until I begged pardon to her satisfaction. Dreadful stench, stayed in my nostrils for weeks. You would think I’d devoured her children, the way she ranted.”
Diego slumped on the porch steps, staring at the coffee he couldn’t drink. The empty black space lodged under his heart threatened to engulf him. He might have felt better if he could have mustered some anger. Good, solid, justified anger. But how could he be furious with someone for whom constancy and fidelity were foreign concepts? How could he justify even a moment’s annoyance when he had repeatedly pushed Finn away?
I’m a damned fool.
He’d sunk so far into brooding, the irritating sound didn’t register as the phone until the seventh or eighth ring. He cleared his throat twice before he could force out a hello.
“Diego? You sound like hell.”
“Miriam. I’m not…feeling very well.”
“You had a seizure last night?”
“No, nothing like that.”
During the pause, he could picture Miriam’s frown.
“Oh, shit, sweetie. Did you lose another one?”
“Excuse me?”
“Finn. Has he left you?”
“Can we keep this professional today, please? I can’t handle anything else right now.”
“’Kay, sorry. I emailed a contract offer to you. If you’re good with it, send me a thumbs-up and I’ll FedEx the docs to you to sign. It’s a fair deal, kiddo, but you let me know if it’s enough.”
“All right.”
“Your first book deal and that’s the best you can manage,” she muttered. “You need me to come up there?”
“No. Miriam. Look, I’m… I’m so sorry. Thank you. Really. I’ll jump up and down and holler and whoop when I feel better.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
He closed his eyes as he hung up the phone and tried to find some spark of triumph or joy. Nothing.
“I have to go home,” he told his ghastly reflection.
