by C. L. Stone
I frown up at him from way too close. “You have the same butts.”
He glances at his brother. “Bro, Sprinkles was checking out our butts.”
“So I hear.”
I elbow Connor's arm. “Stop encouraging him.”
“Dec, gimme the food.” Felix disappears from view. A moment later, he pops back with a carrot in hand. He nudges it against my cheek. “Nice yummy treat for Sprinkles.”
I slap it away. “I'm not eating that.”
“But you missed dinner.” He snaps the purple vegetable between his teeth. Determined, he crunches it and swallows. “Oh, so yummy.”
A smile tugs at my lips. I force it into a frown. “You're not enjoying that at all.”
He pokes me with the end he bit off, leaving a wet smear of vegetable juice on my face. “I suffer for you.”
I scowl. “I suffer because of you.”
“Aww, don't say that.” His smile wobbles as his eyes drop. After a moment, he leans down to nuzzle against my ear. “I won't lick you anymore. Just don't run away.”
An ache pools in my chest as I stare at the darkening sky. Warm breath ruffles against my neck as he snuggles closer. I don't want to push him away. When he clings to me, it makes me feel special. Until today, it didn't bother me when he did the same to the others.
I turn my head slightly so our cheeks touch. “Do you really like me?”
“Yeah.”
“And Declan?”
His cheek moves against mine, and I picture his grin. “Most of the time.”
“Hey, I can hear you.” Declan moves into my line of sight, a small basket in his hands.
Felix rolls onto his back, head still next to mine. “Yeah, well, you're an asshole sometimes.”
“The biggest asshole,” Connor agrees. Long fingers curl around mine and squeeze. “I like you, too.”
Declan's legs fold as he sits down in the grass above Connor's head. His fingers pick at the basket as he avoids my stare. “I'm sorry I called you weak.”
“Yeah, that wasn't nice.” He just said what I already felt, but it doesn't make me happy to hear it. At my sharp tone, his shoulders hunch. I take a deep breath. “I'm sorry I said you weren't considering Felix's feelings without knowing your situation. I had no right to judge you guys.”
“I felt so loved.” Felix sighs, “and horny.”
A surprised laugh escapes me.
With a frown, Declan shoves the other man. “Don't talk like that, you'll scare her away. Again.”
“But my girlfriend's so hot when she's being protective.”
Connor laces our fingers together. “I thought she was going to punch Dec.”
“Super hot.”
“I'm glad me being hurt turns you on,” Declan murmurs dryly.
“Only if it's Sparks.” Felix reaches up to pat his friend's arm with reassurance. Next to my ear, his teeth click together and he adds, “or me.”
Reminded, I smile. “My roommate almost hunted you down last night.”
“What?” He bolts upright to glance around, as if worried Myrrine will appear with armed bodyguard in tow. “Why would she do that?”
With a sigh, I release Connor's hand to sit up so I can face them. “Biting is apparently a big thing in halion culture.”
“Hold on.” Felix shifts around to sit with his legs folded. He grabs the basket from Declan's lap, selects a new carrot, and stares at me with wide eyes. “Okay. Go on.”
“No.” I frown at his eager pose. “This isn't a theatre. I'm not here to entertain you.”
“Such a spoil sport.” He bites off the end of his carrot, wrinkles his nose, and throws the vegetable back in the basket.
“Wait.” As Connor moves to join our circle, his knee presses against mine. “That means your roommate saw you without your shirt on, right?”
“Well, yeah.” I glance down as Felix shifts until he touches my other knee. “We're roommates.”
“So you spend a lot of time walking around with your shirts off?” Felix finds a fresh carrot and presses it against his bottom lip. “Tell us everything.”
I punch his leg with a laugh. “It's not like that.”
He grins. “Pretend it is.”
“No.” I reach over to pull the basket away from Felix. In the dark, I can't make out the contents. “What's in here?”
“Tea, carrots, and a protein pack.” Declan shrugs as he leans back on his hands to peer up at the emerging stars. “The snack room doesn't have a lot of options.”
“Four days to cake.” Felix slumps over his knees, forehead touching the grass. “I might need to eat your bottle of lotion, Sprinkles.”
“We can go on a heist of our own.” Connor ruffles his twin's hair. “We'll steal sugar from the pantry.”
“I love you, bro.”
“That's because I'm the best, bro.”
“No.” Felix swats at his brother as his head lifts. “I'm the best.”
“Yeah, the best at being second.”
As the two devolve into quiet argument, Declan draws my attention. Across from me, he watches the pair with a quiet smile: his lover and his best friend. They already form a perfect circuit. Is there really a place for me with them? Do I want one?
My hand lifts to touch the converter coil beneath my sweatshirt. The hard piece of crystal seems to buzz beneath my touch, a memory of when it was part of something bigger than itself. I glance down at the circle created by our connected knees. It feels right somehow. Like the perfect balance on a disc-bike.
I don't know if we can work out the way they seem to want, the way Myrrine suggests we can. But, we have two years to find out.
Look for book two in Poisoned Houses in 2017
House of Artifice
Just as Caitlyn begins to dream of what a future with Declan, Connor, and Felix could mean, she’s called back to the family home to act as proxy for her father. Struggling to hold her own in a sea of political maneuvering, only allowed brief glimpses of her guys, leaves Caitlyn feeling bereft all over again.
Political machinations are more complicated without a right hand man. When the family matriarch presents Caitlyn with choices for her future secretary, she begins to see how much more complicated things can become. In the Lonnette family, the secretary is expected to fulfill all of their councilor’s needs, both professional and private. Faced with men trained in seduction, Caitlyn will find it difficult to resist their proposals.
When rumors of Declan’s past surface to raise doubts of his true intentions, Caitlyn struggles with which path to follow: accept the approved support of her secretary or continue to fight for the more risky proposition of her guys?
Also by Lyn Forester
Poisoned World Universe:
Poison World
Beneath a Holo-Sky
Ash in the Blood
A Subtle Shade of Black (Coming 2017)
Poisoned Houses
House of Glass
House of Artifice (Coming in 2017)
Tails x Horns Universe:
You to Me
Just Not You (Coming in 2017)
About the Author
Lyn Forester graduated with a Bachelor degree in English and an Associates degree in Graphic Design. She worked in the graphic design industry for ten years before deciding to pursue her other life long dream of becoming a writer. She grew up reading mostly fantasy books, though later in life found a love of urban fantasy and science fiction. She currently works from her home in Washington State where she squeezes in writing time around a busy schedule. When not working, she can be found experimenting with new recipes, reading, or playing video games and the occasional board game.
She loves talking to other readers. For recommendations, check out her Goodreads account and she’d love to hear from you on Facebook or via email at [email protected].
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Lily
RM Walker
1
MOVING
Moving was easy when you knew how. And Lily knew how better than most.
She couldn’t remember a time when they weren’t moving. She’d learnt to not hoard things. She didn’t collect things she couldn’t pack up and take with her easily, like friends. She was friendly with people, she just didn’t make any close friendships that she would miss. It was easier that way.
They moved once a year, usually at the end of the academic year in July. There had been a couple of times when they’d moved midterm, but that was rare. Her mother tended to wait until she had finished an academic year before moving on again. The education syllabus stayed mostly the same despite where they were. The only changes were the four walls and the faces around her. She was a quick learner, achieving grade A’s or B’s; so, despite the disruption of moving each summer, her work didn’t suffer.
Her mother, Lynda, had an itchy foot of sorts. But it wasn’t wanderlust that moved her, it was the constant urge to paint what she saw around her. Her mother was an artist, and an excellent one. She specialised in sea and landscapes, and her work always sold well. The revenue from her paintings, and a small inheritance from her parents, gave them the ability to move to pastures greener on a regular basis.
And move on to pastures green they had just done again. Her mother was contacted by someone she’d sold a painting to previously. They asked her to do a series of paintings of their home and gardens through the four seasons. So, for the next year they would be living in a small, two bedroomed cottage in a Cornish village that looked as if time had forgotten it.
They’d lived in a lot of places over the years. Mostly in large towns. This was the first time she’d lived in a village, and especially one as small as Trenance. Woods edged the village on three sides, with the sea just beyond the south woods. The positive side, according to her mother, was a bus service that ran to the local town eight miles away. The negative side was that it only ran four times a day. There was a pub and a few shops; a small grocery store that also doubled as a post office, a butcher that did a sideline in fruit and veg, and a bakers. That was it.
Theirs was a typical small cottage, set in between two identical cottages. Lily’s room was at the back, and from her window she could see flower beds either side of a lawn that led down to the woods beyond. It was a definite improvement on their last home; her window there faced the brick wall of the house beside them.
She sat on the window seat, watching the trees. A light breeze coaxed the branches into a swaying dance. The leaves echoed the sounds of the sea that lay just beyond. But nudging the edge of her senses, there was a wisp of something different. Something beyond her understanding.
“Settling in, honey?”
She looked over her shoulder to see her mother leaning on the doorjamb, her arms crossed over her chest. Lily knew she would be watching her closely for a few days, and she understood that.
“It’s an improvement from the last place in Brighton,” Lynda murmured, moving across the room to place a hand on Lily’s shoulder.
“Yeah, it is,” Lily agreed. She’d seen so many different views from bedrooms she’d lived in, but she would admit that this was the prettiest view yet.
“I’ll take you to college on Wednesday, but according to the Headmaster, there’s a bus service that runs to pick up the kids. It leaves from the War Memorial every day at seven, and you catch it again from the college grounds coming home.”
“Thanks.” Lily nodded her head. She could catch the bus the first time, but it was almost a tradition now. Her mother would take her to school on the first day. Lily thought it was to try to make it up to her for how difficult it was to keep starting new schools every September. She’d never vocalised it though, and her mother never said anything either.
“Have you given any thought to universities yet, Lily?”
“Not yet.” Her mother’s hands tightened on her shoulders in reassurance.
She would be eighteen at the end of the month, and this was her last year in college. Once she finished college, her life would change dramatically. If she went to university, they would need to stay put for the three years it would take her to get a degree. Lily couldn’t remember the last time she’d stayed in one place for more than a year. Leaving somewhere was never as hard as it should have been though. It was the thought of staying in one place for three years that seemed odd to her now.She wasn’t even sure yet whether she even wanted to go into university. Nothing really appealed to her; nothing called to her. She was floating along, adrift, unsure in which direction her life was going to take her. She considered a few careers, but something always held her back. As if she was waiting for something. She just didn’t know what that something was.
“There’s no rush yet. You can have one of those gap years if you want.” The edge in her mother’s voice was clear. An edge that was put there by Lily’s epilepsy.
“I don’t know what I want to do yet,” she revealed quietly.
Lily’s epilepsy had grown increasingly worse as she got older. When she was young, the seizures weren’t too bad, but what started as absence seizures morphed into tonic-clonic seizures. Her mother took her to all sorts of doctors and alternative therapists, but nothing helped. Until one day her mother came home with some tablets that a herbalist gave her. Lily’s desperation reached a point where she was willing to try anything. To their relief, they’d worked. Several months could pass without any seizures. When she did get one, it was still so debilitating that she would sleep for twenty-four hours to get over the migraine it left her with. Currently, she was at her best so far; it was six months since her last seizure. She was not allowed to learn to drive a car until two years passed seizure free. She could ride a bicycle, and she did, but it was impractical for long distance journeys. Not being able to drive would put limitations on her future, and she was acutely aware of this.
Lily’s father died when her mother was pregnant with her. There were no pictures of him, and Lily knew very little about him. When she had been old enough to start asking questions, her mother’s answers had been vague before changing the subject. Lily stopped asking questions, aware that it was a touchy subject for her mother.
“Something will turn up, Lily. It always does.” Her mother squeezed her shoulder lovingly. “If you want to choose university, I’ll be right there with you, Lily. I can paint wherever you are.”
She placed her hand over her mother’s, leaning back into her. Her mother meant it, but their track record would suggest that a three year stay somewhere might not work.
“We could find somewhere close to whatever Uni you choose; or you can get those courses that you can do from home. That might even be easier, considering.”
“I’ll think about it,” Lily whispered, feeling her mother kiss the top of her head.
“We have the rest of this year to look forward to first. We aren’t going anywhere yet!” Her mother spoke briskly, dropped another kiss on her head and then moved away from her. “I need to ring Mr Crowder; see when I can pop by to start prelim sketches.” She went out, her footsteps echoed going down the cast iron spiral staircase that descended into the living room.
Lily looked back towards the forest, running a hand through her dark hair. Her future was so uncertain. Where would she be this time next year? She’d never really worried about it before. Her mother always chose where they were going. But Lily wasn’t a child anymore, and she knew there was a time coming where she would have to make her own way. It was more than that, if she was honest. It was as if everything she kne
w was about to change, that nothing would ever be the same after this year. And that scared her.
2
Twins
Wednesday morning found Lily standing in her tutor group classroom. Held in a tight grip, she had the map and timetable the office receptionist had given her. Nerves assailed her. Some things never got any easier, no matter how many times she did them.
She kept her eyes on the teacher, her cheeks burning hotly under the curious stares she knew she was getting from the classroom full of students. A short, stout man in blue cord trousers and a thick Aran sweater sat on the front edge of his desk. He looked to be in his early forties, with dark hair that was shot through with grey at the sides.
“I’m Lily Adair. I’m new here, sir.” He gave her a warm smile that reached his brown eyes.
“Go ahead and find a seat. We’re just starting.” He indicated the desks and chairs in front of her.
Not making eye contact with anyone, she made her way through the rows of students already sitting; aware that all eyes were still on her. It was a walk she had done numerous times before, but it was never easy. Her cheeks burned as she sank into the seat of the only empty desk in the room. She put her bag on the desk, making sure not to look at anyone.
"Right, now everyone is settled. I hope you’ve all had a good summer and you’re ready for your final year. It’s an important year, folks, so start as you mean to go on. Let's get the register over and done with, and then you can all sort yourselves out. Quietly."
Lily took the opportunity to look around for the first time now that everyone had lost interest in her. Like a lot of colleges Lily attended, this one had four houses; Columbus, Raleigh, Cook, and her own, Drake.
"Lily Adair, got you already.” She heard him say her name, and then he began calling out other names in the register. She watched as different ones responded to their names, but she knew it would be a while before she remembered who was whom. She had even left some schools at the end of the year still not knowing the names of all her classmates.