Joel wanted to go to her, but he instinctually knew Gen did not want to share this with him. It would be an intrusion on her privacy.
From her bag, Gen removed some objects. She set them one at a time on the ground. He was too far away to see what they were.
Gen started a small fire and threw different items into the flame. Each time the blaze grew larger, her words grew louder.
Joel could just make them out now.
May angle sar te merel kadi yag, opre, Adam!
May angle sar te merel kadi yag, opre, Adam!
May angle sar te merel kadi yag, opre, Adam!
She lit a fat yellow candle from the fire’s odd, red flame. A shadowy figure stepped out from behind a gravestone just behind her, tall and broad shouldered. A man. He drew closer.
Gen remained unaware this man was mere steps away—
“No!” Joel jerked forward, wanting to protect her.
Gen whipped her head around. “Who’s there?”
The shadow man turned too, but evaporated into the mist.
Were his eyes playing tricks on him?
Joel revealed himself. “It’s me, Gen. It’s me.”
“What are you doing here? Did you follow me?” She backed away, keeping the fire between them. “What did you see?”
“A man, I think,” Joel said. Her eyes were big and round, her mouth half-opened…like a creature of the night, startled by a human passing through her territory. Her face was ashen. “Does this have something to do with the curses? Who was that…man?”
“Who said I was doing this for you?” Gen kicked dirt over the strange red fire. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done, Joel?”
“What I’ve done?” He took a step toward her. “What do you mean?”
“You can’t just wander in here…I didn’t ask for you to be here. Now it won’t work. You’ve ruined it.”
“What won’t work? What are you talking about?” As he came closer, he could see her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“It’s personal.” She snatched up the things on the ground and stuffed them back in her bag. “Just forget it.”
“I don’t understand…if you’d just explain.”
“I don’t want to explain. It’s none of your business. Just leave me alone.” She brushed past him.
He caught her elbow. “What are you so darn upset about? I can’t sleep, and there you are outside talking to someone in the middle of the night. And when I follow you, you come out here…and…and do this.”
She tugged it free. “Go back to your brother. Go back to your life and leave me out of it. You don’t want to be messed up with me.”
“I’m already messed up with you. You made it that way. You came along with us. Helped me with these curses. What am I supposed to do, just pretend I can do this without you?”
Gen stopped her movements. “I’m sorry, Joel. Please don’t ask me to explain. I want to help you, but that doesn’t mean you get to know everything about me. I have to have my privacy.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
She slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the open gate at the other end of the cemetery. “Then let’s go back. Let’s just get some sleep.”
“Wait.” Joel caught up to her. “You still haven’t answered my question. Who or what was that back there?”
She turned. The moonlight lit up her face, her eyes glowing. She made a little sound, a gasp, like the sound an animal makes when it’s caught in a trap.
Joel could sense her heart racing. The tight dilation of her pupils, even in the dark, told him she feared him or feared he might find something out. Lightly, he grasped her upper arm. Her skin was cool. A night wind blew her hair across her forehead, which hid her eyes from him.
Here in this moonlit graveyard, she looked like the limestone angel that had been standing guard over him earlier. All cut angles and hard surfaces. But her skin. Her skin was soft and pliant under his hand. He slid his fingertips over her shoulder, across her collarbone, under her chin and forced her to look at him. “Tell me. He was going to hurt you.”
“You didn’t see anything. It was a trick of the dark.” She tried to pull her chin out of his grasp, but he tightened his hold.
“You’re lying.”
Gen clutched her bag closer to her body. She blinked back tears. “Please don’t ask me to explain.”
“Would it really be so terrible to tell me?” He took a step toward her. She didn’t move.
“I told you I don’t want to explain. It’s very personal to me and—”
The emotions she had so clearly been trying to keep in check came flooding out in one quick burst. He couldn’t resist. He had to make the tears stop. He let go of her chin, curved his arm around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her. A light, sweet kiss. Her scent reminded him of strawberries and sunshine. He drank it in, wanting to absorb her into himself.
Her mouth opened to his, inviting him into her warmth. He groaned at the invitation and deepened the kiss, their tongues meeting furtively. He moved his hand up to her shoulder and under her jaw, keeping her soft lips against his. When his other hand brushed across the curve of her backside, she put her hands on his chest and pushed.
Gen broke away. “Don’t.”
He stood there, his arms empty, but still feeling her heat, her softness. Her kiss burned his lips. He touched his fingers there and watched as she made her way to the gate, slipping past its rusted iron bars and into the woods.
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Catch Me in Castile Page 28