Page 25 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
“Does that seem a little wild to you?” Larkin peered over at her. “Like,reallywild?”
“Yeah, pal. Shut off the lights, okay? I think I’m done for the day.”
“Nyx,” Larkin whispered and the witch lights went out, and Harlow was left with a head full of memories and a bruised heart.
ChapterThirteen
Harlow smelled breakfast before she was fully awake, the familiar sounds of a weekend morning at home filling her ears and making her drowsy. She opened her eyes and was supremely confused. Instead of the huge attic bedroom she shared with Thea until she was eighteen, she was someplace else.
“I got you tea,” Larkin chirped, pressing a warm mug into her hands.
“Oh, right, I slept in here.” Harlow took the mug and sipped gratefully as she sat up, propping herself up in the enormous pile of pillows Larkin slept amongst. “What’s with the tea service?”
Larkin wrinkled her nose. “Everyone is in the kitchen interrogating Thea about her dinner with Alaric.”
Harlow sunk deeper into the pillows and pushed back the covers. “Get in. We don’t need to participate in that.”
Larkin smiled and cuddled in. Harlow loved the twins fiercely, as she loved all her sisters, but they were an intense pair, and if they had Selene on their side, the scene in the kitchen was bound to be more than she wanted to deal with just now. Besides, Larkin had slipped out of discussing the reason they left the party last night.
“So, pal. You cleverly avoided having to talk to me last night. Want to fill me in on what’s going on with you?”
Larkin tucked her face into Harlow’s shoulder, like she had when she was a little girl. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Give it a try.”
“I know what romanceis. I even kind of like to read about it or watch TV shows with it, but I just don’t… feel it.”
“Not ever? With anyone?”
Larkin shook her head. “It’s not a matter of who, it’s just that I don’t feel like that about people.”
“What about sex?”
Larkin shook her head. “I don’t really get that either. I fooled around with the people I dated in secondary and sometimes it felt nice, but all the stuff the books talk about? I just didn’t feel it. Do you think something’s wrong with me?”
Harlow threw an arm around her sister and hugged her. “No, pal. I don’t. Lots of people feel that way; humans are better at talking about it than the Orders. Since we’re so obsessed with pairing, we don’t talk about what it’s like when someone doesn't want to.”
Larkin nodded. “That makes sense I guess. I just feel like the odd one out.”
Harlow’s arm tightened around her sister. “I think you’ll find other people like you and when you do, it’ll help you understand yourself better.”
“Really? Do you know any?”
Harlow laughed. “Probably. I’ll think about it and ask Enzo, if that’s all right. I think one of his friends from uni felt similarly about things. Would you like to talk to her if that’s the case?”
Larkin nodded. “Enzo always has nice friends.”
“Do you want to keep going to the season parties?”
Larkin blanched. “No, but I think Mama will be mad.”
“She won’t. I promise. Just tell her and Mother how you feel. They’ll understand, pal.”
“You think the sex queens will get this? They’ve been in love forever.”
They giggled together and Harlow set her empty mug down to wrap her other arm around her youngest sister. “They’ve alsolivedforever. They get a lot of stuff we don’t give them credit for.”
When Harlow said it, she realized how true it was, and how lucky they were to have such good parents. All Finn’s troubles with his own family were a thought away. She tried to brush it off, but something bothered her about how he’d acted the night before, so happy to be here, and then gone the instant she’d questioned him about why he’d abandoned her.
