Page 53 of Until the Heart Stops
Chapter 30
“This is the longest I’ve ever gone without setting foot in the Souzterain.”
I whispered the words, even though it wasn’t necessary. No one was listening to Callum and me as we stood at the front door of the apartment Noah, Adrienne, and I shared. In fact, I could sense that no one was inside the apartment at all, and a pang of guilt sliced through me knowing exactly where I could find my friends.
Callum wrapped an arm around my waist and guided me down the stairs, away from the empty home there was no point in visiting. “Do you like working there?”
I didn’t answer immediately, but he didn’t push as he opened the door and we stepped onto the street. Together we sorted through my feelings as we walked at a human speed down the cobblestones.
“As a girl, yes, before the new dens were established and all our clients just”—I waved my hand—“disappeared. Before then, I remember as a child enjoying helping my mother and grandmère prepare theparlors and speak with our clients. Or perhaps it was merely the memory of my family being together.”
Blowing out a breath, I shook my head. Callum squeezed my shoulder as he tucked me under his arm. “Well, my hope is that soon the vendors of the Souzterain might find their old homes on the Rachay, if they wish it, and that the dens the Covenant established in the alley will be disbanded.”
I let out a sound of disgust. “Iknew it.”
He hummed. “Your instincts were correct.”
We skirted around a crowd of Lycans as they spoke animatedly. The smell of cooking fires thickened as we reached the river and I paused. Though I’d never seen it, both my mother and grandmère had spent so long describing the old market I thought I could picture it perfectly.
“Do you mean it?”
Callum stopped walking as well. “Mean what, darling?”
“The Souzterain could be restored to the river where it was before?”
He frowned, gray eyes slipping to the market beside us. “There is enough room for more. The market was almost twice this size before the Covenant destroyed it. Of course, the alley could also be made an extension of?—”
I threw my arms around his neck, kissing him soundly. He made a smallhmphas he caught me, tangling his fingers in my loose hair and tilting back my head to deepen it. By the time we pulled away we were breathless and a few Vyenurs on patrol whistled at us good-naturedly.
“This makes you happy?” he asked, though the question was unnecessary—he could feel it in our connection.
The idea of our stall restored to its original home made my chest squeeze. It had been a dream of my mother’s,one that we had never thought would be realized. I couldn’t speak past the lump in my throat, so I could only push my deep, unbridled hope through the bond for the future now possible.
“I’ll do whatever I can to help you, if you wish it,” he promised, stroking my jaw. “I remember exactly where your family’s den was on the river and how it looked.”
I blinked. “You do?”
A smile curled the corner of his mouth. “Your grandmère Solange and your mother Jules were formidable witches.”
“You knew them?” My chest warmed at the realization that we would now have time to learn these details of one another.
He nodded. “Though Mateo was closer with Jules than I, as he frequented Risqeu lan Serang much more often, Henry too. But I spoke with your grandmère on occasion. To be honest, she frightened me a little.”
Goddess. It was easy to forget that we were not the same age. Callum had lived lifetime upon lifetimes in comparison to my thirty-two years. I couldn’t help but laugh at his admission. My grandmère had been the definition of sharp, from her wit to her tongue. I’d seen her reduce Lycan alphas to tears and even one Vyenur captain into kissing her feet when I’d been a girl.
“And what about me?” I asked with a grin.
His eyebrows ticked up in question.
“Do I frighten you?”
Callum’s grin widened, but his eyes glinted with sincerity as his hands slid to my shoulders. “Oh, my darling, you have no idea. I fear you more than any other.”
I curled my fingers around his wrists. “What do you mean?”
“You hold my heart in your hands. I fear that withoutyou, without your love, I would be merely the moon without night. Deimos without Amayah.”
I sighed, shaking my head but not in negation, before releasing his wrists and wrapping my arms around his waist. “I feel the same about you.”
