Page 23 of The Arrival
SEVEN
CONFESSIONS
The morning after Cellina and Giovanni’s bonding ceremony is warm and hazy, the air damp, golden and teeming with spring flowers. The estate where everyone is staying oversees Lake Como, which is sprawling and churning in aqua blue before Nino as he sits on the terrace. The surrounding mountains loom in cool green shadows.
His coffee cup is soothing between his palms. Aside from the bright whistling of sparrows in the trees and the ambient hush of water hitting the shore, it’s quiet.
“Are you the only one up so far?”
Cellina’s comforting voice registers behind him in perfect harmony with the atmosphere.
Nino twists to view her. “Morning. I think so?”
With her own coffee in hand, she sits beside him on the wooden bench, then fans out the length of her casual, flowy dress. “Is Haru still sleeping? It’s so late—I thought for sure I’d be the last one up.”
Nino chuckles. “Haru is a relic. If he could sleep all day and stay up all night reading and studying, he would. If there’s nothing pressing that he has to get up early for, it’s not happening.”
“Ah, right. He was nocturnal after you got kidnapped around this time last year, yeah?”
“He was.” Nino frowns, remembering that time. “It was a pain in the ass to get him out of that. And I wasn’t ‘kidnapped.’ I prefer the term ‘vanished,’ or ‘abducted.’ I’m not a kid.”
She twists with her coffee, her knees hitting his in an affectionate bump. “You’re certainly not. Sorry. But you have a youthful heart. It’s a good thing.”
Nino smirks. “Is it?”
“Of course. It’s what I love most about you. Why are you sitting out here alone?”
Nino inhales deep, filling his lungs with the balmy spring air and cool breeze. “Yesterday, Jae asked me to help him with controlling his aura, so I figured I’d get up and just hang out. But he hasn’t surfaced yet.”
“Mm.” Cellina takes a sip of her coffee. “Well, he and Junichi are a newly bonded couple. I’m positive that they’re in the throes of passion right now… Those first few days after your brother and me bonded were—”
“Nooooo.”
The space falls silent between them as Nino shakes his head. Cellina bumps his knee with hers once more. “Nino—”
“No.” He laughs. “No thank you. I’m not interested.”
Cellina lifts her chin, indignant. “I thought you didn’t want me to treat you like a kid?”
“That doesn’t mean I want you to divulge your sexual exploits with my brother!”
“You’re so rude.” She takes another sip as Nino chuckles. When she’s finished, she glances at him. “Speaking of your brother, he’s been working up the nerve to talk to you.”
Nino draws back, frowning. “Why? Since when does G lack confidence in anything—especially when it comes to tellingmeoff.”
“You’d be surprised,” she says. “He thinks about you a lot, Nino. So much.”
“I find that hard to believe. He’s been ignoring me for six months because he’s tired of me being a thorn in his side. He’s done with me.”
Cellina shakes her head. “That isn’t it at all. But he’ll tell you. Just… be patient with him?”
Nino glances out across the lake, which seems more alive as the sun climbs a little higher in the sky. The stacked houses lining the perimeter are an array of rust, mustard and taupe—like manmade mountains cultivated from red rock, sunlight and sand.
The idea of his being “patient” with Giovanni feels ludicrous. Hasn’t it always been the other way around?
“Have you been practicing at manipulating your energy more?” Cellina asks. “The last time we talked about it, you told me that you had frozen Ren with your aura.”
“I did. He was the first person outside of Haru that I tried it on. It’s pretty easy for me now, but I don’t have nearly the level of finite control that Haru does.”
