Page 64 of The Outcast
“I wasn’t sure if I was fooling myself, but I saw the way you looked at me. All the times that I felt butterflies in my stomach, it was hard to imagine that you didn’t feel it too.”
I smiled and looked deep into her eyes. “Since I met you, a whole colony of butterflies moved into my body. They flutter their wings whenever you’re close to me.”
“I want you to make me a promise.” Sparrow’s eyes were half lidded, and her voice was weak, as if keeping awake was a struggle.
“Anything.”
“When I feel better and it’s just you and me, I want you to kiss me like you did that day in the meadow.”
I kissed the back of her hand. “I promise to kiss you as much as you want me to.”
We smiled at each other but when her eyes closed, I knew I was selfish for taking too much of her dwindling energy. “Your father is anxious to see you. Can I send him in?”
She gave a small nod but didn’t open her eyes. “I heard you, you know.”
Her words were close to inaudible and made me bend down over her. “You what?”
She whispered the words with closed eyes. “I heard you when you told me that you loved me.”
“That’s…” I swallowed hard remembering how she had been unconscious when I whispered those words in her ears. “It’s the truth.”
Sparrow’s whisper came out as if she was already half asleep, soft and ethereal: “I love you too, Banni.”
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CHAPTER 23
Resting at the Mansion
Sparrow
It was Khan’s idea that I should be brought back to rest at the Gray Mansion. My parents wanted me at their house, but with a school full of children, it was indisputable that there would be more peace and quiet at the mansion.
Our Explorer academy was suspended for a week, giving us all time to consider if and how to proceed from here.
On my second day at the mansion, I was lying in the large luxurious bed watching the clouds in the sky through the window when Freya came in with a tray of food.
“How is my patient feeling this morning?”
I scooted my butt back to sit up a little. “I wasn’t aware that I wasyourpatient. Since when did you take a nursing degree?”
Freya smiled and placed the tray on my bed and crawled up to sit at the foot end. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
She tilted her head. “Fine as in I’m truly fine, or as in I don’t want to be trouble so I’m pretending I’m fine?”
“Well, if you must know, I’m upset about losing my hair.”
“Your hair will grow back.” Freya handed me a glass of juice. “It’s much worse if you lost other more valuable things in that cabin.”
Taking a sip of the apple juice, I met her inquisitive gaze. “He didn’t rape me if that’s what you’re asking.”
Freya’s chest lifted as she inhaled with what I assumed was relief. “Did he take other things such as your trust in men?”
I thought about it. “Maybe it’s too early to say, but I understand that the problem wasn’t that Keith was a man. The problem was that he was mentally ill.”
Freya was dressed in soft blue pants and a white form-fitting cardigan. Around her neck hung a silver chain with a small pendant in the shape of a queen chess piece. She kept playing with it between her thumb and index finger. “Do you know what happened to make his wires short circuit like that?”
