“You are late for dinner.”
“I won’t make it to dinner at all if you don’t slow down.”
He slows down marginally, but not enough to settle my galloping heart. When we pull into the long driveway, I glare at him and pick up the things that scattered from my purse.
“My apologies, Lady Eden,” he says when he opens my door.
“Luka will hear of this,” I hear Brienne telling him.
Luka is there in the next second, hands on top of his head.
“Where have you been?” Luka’s face is red and his hair is standing in every direction. He has a few days’ worth of stubble and looks frantic. “Where have you been?” he demands once more.
“Out.” I move past him and he jogs to catch up with me.
“Basile told you to be here for dinner.”
“Did I miss dinner? I lost track of time.”
“You can still eat, but you’re late.” He puts his hand on my arm. “Are you okay? I was worried.”
I brush his hand off and wait as Brienne opens the door to the house for us. Hanna is hovering in the entryway and when she sees that I’m carrying things, she rushes forward, holding out her hands.
“I can put your things in your room. The king is waiting.”
“We can’t have that, can we?” I’m still living high on the beauty of my day and not willing to let this house bring me back down. Everyone looks at me like I’m possessed and I shrug. “I could use a shower, but I guess I could eat.”
The dining room is frigid when I walk inside, not the temperature, the demeanor of everyone at the table: Titus, Cece, and Mara. Basile is the exception and he smiles indulgently when he sees I’m not properly dressed for dinner.
“Where have you been today, Eden?” Cece asks.
“I went to the beach.”
“Please be more specific.”
“I had Harmi and Brienne with me. They can give you the specifics.”
She slams her hand down on the table. “This is a time when we need you to be showing a united front, not a time for you to go gallivanting into town on a whim and playing cozy with the locals. There have been pictures of you multiplying by the hour. What were you thinking?”
“Oh, so the question was rhetorical. You knew exactly where I was.”
If fire could explode out of someone’s head, it would be billowing out of Cece’s. “I will not tolerate your insolence. As I said, you need to stick next to Luka for the next week at least, and act like the doting wife you need to become.”
“He hasn’t been sticking next to me like a doting husband though; he’s been sticking his co—”
Luka places his hand over my mouth and just as hastily withdraws it. “I’m sorry. Trying to save you from more outrage.”
“That’ll never change, his cock will look elsewhere, especially if he’s stuck with you the rest of his life,” Mara throws in.
Luka levels her with a glare and she shrugs. “Just telling it like it is.”
I ignore her and speak low so only Luka can hear me.
“I don’t need you to save me from anything. You’re the one who got us into this mess. It’s not up to me to fix it.”
He lowers his head. “You’re right.” He turns toward me then, his knees hitting my thigh, and leans in. “Eden, I’m so sorry. I thought—well, I wasn’t thinking clearly. But now, I need you to he—”
“I don’t want to hear the inner workings of your mind or the lack thereof.” I raise my voice. “I married into a family of dysfunction—what’s one more mess? It’s not up to me to make your family look wholesome. That’s impossible.” I stand, looking at Chelsea and smile. “I’m sorry I missed your meal. It looks delicious.”
“I’ll bring a plate to your room later,” she whispers as I walk past her.
“Not so fast,” Titus says, holding his hand up.
In spite of all my righteous indignation, I stop.
“Luka has caused a great deal of shame with his actions. While I know he warned you of how a marriage to him would be, it is despicable that he was so careless in his indiscretions.”
Cece rolls her eyes next to him and I have to bite the inside of my jaw to keep from going into hysterical laughter. I might lose it and never get it back if I start laughing now.
“He will make it up to you,” Titus finishes.
He looks at me like I should be grateful and that’s when it bursts out of me. I laugh until I cry, my shoulders shaking and every time I try to stop, it just wells up in me again. They sit there in confusion and don’t know what to do with me, which just makes me laugh harder. When I can finally get a breath, I hold up my hand, as if that will make me stop. It doesn’t. I wipe my cheeks and press my lips together until the mania in me slows.
“I’d much rather see the truth outright than have someone treat me like I’m clueless. Either way, it’s gross. When you’ve made a commitment, you should keep it. But I can see that he comes from a long line of people who can’t keep their word. At least the truth is out about him.”
I don’t stick around after I’ve said my piece. They can take their little family meeting and shove it.
I’m almost to my room when Mara calls after me. “Eden! I almost forgot.” She holds a wrapped gift out for me to take.
“What’s this?” My voice is full of suspicion.
“Just a little something I thought you might enjoy.”
I unwrap it carefully and lift the lid to the box. Inside is a framed picture of Luka kissing Nadia.
“Tick-tock,” she whispers.
I throw the picture down the hall and it breaks into tiny pieces. I sneer in her face and shrug. “That was an exquisite La Dora frame but not really my taste.”
As soon as I close my bedroom door, all my bravado dissolves and I cry hot, salty tears until I’m a puffy mess.
What good is it to know the truth when I can’t even admit the truth to myself?
Some secrets should never come to light.
This will never be my home.
They’re not my family.
My heart is already irrevocably his…
Therefore I am chained to a life of heartbreak.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I start going out every morning. I set up my easel in different areas of the city and talk with people about everything from what they had for breakfast to the difficulties they’re having with their mother-in-law. It makes me feel connected to something bigger than myself—a part of this new community that I’m supposed to have claimed. In getting to know the people of Niaps, I actually do become immersed in the culture and it’s the closest to home I’ve felt since arriving.
Harmi and Brienne are growing on each other. Harmi is an insufferable grouch, and with Brienne, it’s hard to tell what she’s thinking, but every now and then they’ll do something that shows a hint of their softer sides. Like when Harmi found a chair for a tiny old woman who wanted me to draw her portrait. She acted like she didn’t need it and Harmi made sure he got her one anyway, ushering her into it like she was the queen bee. And Brienne played ball with a little boy while I consoled the boy’s mother. She’d just found out her husband was cheating on her and—naturally—felt a camaraderie with me. I didn’t tell her that our situations were not the same—my husband never loved me and we don’t have a real life together—but just listened and let her talk it out.
Every day when I get back to the house, I’m greeted with hostility from Luka’s family. They don’t like that I’m doing my own thing, something they never thought of, and growing favor with their people.
It feels like I’m finally doing something right.
I left early this morning, earlier than usual, because I wanted to swim a while in the little private beach I found one of the days I’d gone exploring. Harmi passed a beautiful spot and I begged him to stop right there so I could go see where the path led.
“Lady Eden, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to swim alone when you are so new at it,” Brienne warne
d the first time we stopped.
“I’m never really alone, am I? Come in for a swim, if you like.”
She leveled me with a look and ever since then she stands guard while I swim, barely tolerating the sun. The place has become my favorite morning and early evening spot ever since. There’s never anyone here when I show up and the current isn’t as strong as it is in some of the other areas.
I never leave without my hat and sunscreen. My skin is still getting a gradual rosy color and the freckles are popping up right and left, despite me slathering sunscreen on faithfully and covering up as best I can. This morning I don’t feel like wearing my hat and run into the water, practicing a dive. It’s a horrendous attempt and I get out, trying again. On my third attempt, I hear chuckling behind me and whip around.
Luka is standing there, pulling down his pants. “You have to hold your hands like this.” He positions his hands and does the motions of a dive without actually going in the water. “And you need to be in deeper water. Trying to dive while you’re already in the water…” He shakes his head, laughing.
“You’re following me now?”
“I follow you every day,” he says, smiling. “Gotta see what my wife is up to for myself. You’ve become quite the celebrity around here…in far less time than it took for the rest of us.”
“That’s an invasion of my privacy.” I walk into the water when his eyes on me in my bikini become too heated.
“It can’t be wrong to enjoy you doing your thing…I didn’t know you were an artist. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We haven’t really been on a quest of getting to know one another.”
“Well, actually, I think we’ve done pretty well with that…” His eyes smile along with his lips and I shake my head.
“Don’t do that. Don’t joke about us having sex. I know it meant nothing to you, but I’m not quite ready to be the object of your jokes just yet.”
“You think that’s what I was doing? That wasn’t my intention at all. I simply meant—”
“What do you want from me, Luka?” I interrupt.
“I want to start over.” He says it simply, like it’s the easiest thing to fall out of his mouth; meanwhile, it knocks me sideways.
“Why?”
“Because the more I find out about you, the more I want to know.”
“Too little, too late.”
He bites his upper lip and nods before clearing his throat. “You know our professor is waiting to teach us, right? She’s been here for a few days and might give up if both of us keep skipping out…”
“I forgot all about that!” I pick up my bag and wave to Harmi. He gets into place by the car and I hustle up the path.
“Hold on. Where are you going?” Luka calls.
“To apologize to the professor.”
I get in the car and don’t bother to look behind me.
When we pull into the driveway, I hop out and Hanna takes my things. “Where is the professor?”
“She’s in the study, east wing,” she replies.
“Thanks, Hanna.”
I practically run to the study and stop suddenly as I reach the door. Luka bumps into me from behind. Groaning, I evil-eye him over my shoulder.
“Your stealth skills are way off today. You’ve really been following me for days? I don’t buy it. You couldn’t sneak up on a dead man.”
He leans in and I feel his breath against my neck. “Maybe I wanted to be seen today.”
I roll my eyes and knock twice on the door. A woman with white hair and steely grey eyes looks up from her desk and clasps her hands together when we enter.
“If it isn’t the newlyweds. I’m glad you’ve finally decided to join me. My colleague Jesu chose today of all days to show up late, probably thinking you’d skip again.”
“I apologize, Ms.—”
“Macardi,” she finishes. “No apologies necessary. Your uncle filled me in on a little bit of what has been happening around here. And you’re here now. Are you ready to study?”
“Yes,” we both answer.
There’s only one long table across from her, with two chairs. I sigh and sit down, Luka scooting in next to me. At first I find it hard to concentrate when he’s so close, but Ms. Macardi comes alive when she teaches. This is the way I’ve always learned—one-on-one or with my siblings—so before long, I relax and take notes while occasionally doodling on the edges of my notebook.
* * *
We fall into a routine over the next couple of weeks. Classes in the morning and in the afternoons I wander around town, trying to stay one step ahead of Luka. He doesn’t bother hiding anymore. When I’m on the beach, he comes and watches me draw. If I’m swimming, he lets me swim for a while and then joins me, usually with some wisecrack about being the one to teach me how to swim.
Sometimes, when my guard is down, I start to have fun with him. He’s like an obnoxious bulldog that won’t go away. As soon as I’m done with him, he shows up panting, showing me his newest trick…which in his case lately, has been kindness.
I see him hand an elderly woman a flower. She flushes and puts it behind her ear as he beams, and it just makes me livid. How dare he act like a good person when I need to be mad at him.
At night, images of him with Nadia invade my mind, along with memories of us in his bed, on the beach, in the shower. I wake up, sweating and turned on. I listen for sounds of him leaving the house, but either he has become better at sneaking out or he doesn’t go anywhere.
In my weakest moments, I search the Internet in the middle of the night, but Nadia is only seen with Mara or people from Elias’s party. Eventually, she returns home to Yuman, and then I start thinking it’s the only reason I’m seeing him so much—he doesn’t have his sex buddy, so I’m on his radar again.
It starts to take its toll on me and my mind never seems to shut down.
* * *
This morning I have drifted off in class twice and both times, I come to with Luka and Ms. Macardi eyeing me with amusement.
She finally says, “I can’t seem to hold your interest today, Eden. Why don’t you go take a nap and I’ll see you in the morning.”
I flush and gather my things. “I’m so sorry. I will try to be more attentive tomorrow.”
I leave the room as quickly as I can, embarrassed, but also relieved that maybe I can catch up on some sleep. It’s been three nights since I got a good night’s sleep and I can hardly keep my eyes open.
“Eden?” Luka rounds the corner when I reach my room. “Are you okay?” His forehead is creased into tiny lines of concern and for the hundredth time, I think about how beautiful he is.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s your standard answer for everything. I don’t believe you.”
I shrug. “I can’t be bothered to convince you.”
His shoulders sag and he steps closer to me. “When will you let me in again? I’m trying so hard to reach you.”
“Is that what this nice act is? I wondered when you’d shed that. You can, you know…go ahead and let the real you come out to play. I know this is hard work.”
He jerks back like I’ve struck him and his eyes are wounded. I would almost feel bad if I didn’t believe it’s all been a ruse.
“I hope you can get some rest,” he says quietly.
He goes into his room and shuts the door.
* * *
I wake up and feel like I’m suffocating. I shake underneath the covers, but my skin is hot and my sheets are soaked with sweat. The room is dark; I can’t tell what time it is. My head feels like someone is slicing it in two. I groan and put my hand to my head, realizing in that movement how achy my entire body feels.
I fall asleep again and wake to a rap on the door.
“Eden?” When I don’t answer right away, the door opens and Luka peeks in. When he sees that I’m in bed, he rushes over. “Are you okay? You’ve been sleeping for a long time.”
“How long?” I croak and put my hands to my
throat. Everything hurts.
“I haven’t seen you since yesterday. When I looked in here last night, you were sleeping hard.” He puts his hand to my forehead. “Shit, you’re burning up. How long have you been feeling sick?”
“I was just so tired…” My eyes close. It hurts too much to keep them open. “My head is going to explode,” I whisper.
“I’ll get some medicine for your head and we’ll have Dr. Karibu come take a look. I’ll be back.”
I fall asleep and wake up to a doctor and Cece coming into the room. The doctor does some bloodwork, takes my temperature, and announces I have the flu. Cece backs out of the room and Luka climbs onto the bed next to me.
“What do we do?” he asks.
“Keep her hydrated. I will give her an herbal tea that should lessen the length of the sickness, but it will still take a couple of days to fully heal. She needs a lot of rest.”
“Okay, thank you for coming. Will you come check on her tomorrow?”
I open my eyes to tell Luka that won’t be necessary, but I don’t have the energy.
“And the day after that.” Dr. Karibu smiles kindly. He points to the door. “Is it okay if I go prepare the tea in the kitchen?”
“Can you show me how to do it so I can give it to her when you’re gone?” Luka stands up and starts to follow the doctor.
“I was hoping you would,” Dr. Karibu responds.
They leave the room and I go back into my dream world where Luka and I are swimming in the blue, blue waters.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I drift in and out of consciousness. Crazy dreams and stretches of time when I know I must be dreaming because Luka is forcing me to sip tea all the time. Other times, he has a cold washcloth on my forehead and is holding me while I shake with chills. Sometimes I think I hear him talking to me and I chase the sound, but the dreams pull me under again. I’m not sure what is real.
I wake up with a start and he’s lying facing me, eyes wide open.
“Hey,” he whispers.
Downfall: Kingdoms of Sin, Book #1 Page 15