The door swung open and Justus appeared with snow caked on his boots and a dust of white powder on his broad shoulders. “Learner, set up the guest room. The Relic will be staying with us tonight.”
Page’s eyebrows nearly shot to the roof. “Pardon me?”
Ignoring her complaint, he ran his hand over his head, now wet from melted snow. Some of it dripped on the floor with a loud smack as Justus cranked on his internal thermostat. “The road is impassable and we have a foot of snow on the ground from the drifts. The sleet is coming in,” he said in a baritone voice.
“Then I better get moving,” she insisted, zipping up her medical bag. “I have an important client I’m scheduled to see in an hour. I swear, this is the craziest weather I’ve ever seen.”
Justus laced his fingers around the handle of her bag and hauled it off the table. For a moment, I thought he was going to help her obligingly to her car, until he headed toward the bathroom. Guest rooms were upstairs, and if you took the secret lift in the bathroom to the lower level, you’d only find a few rooms, including a study with a foldout bed.
She bolted from the table and followed behind him—her arms swinging along with her hips.
“Wait a minute. Wait just a minute. Give me my bag; I’m not staying here. I have appointments that—”
“Can wait,” he insisted.
I heard the bickering all the way to the bathroom and then it quieted. What a turn of events, I thought.
Once Page resolved to the fact that she wasn’t leaving the house, I talked with her briefly and showed her how the elevator lift operated. She had work to do, so I headed back upstairs. I found Justus in the kitchen drinking a tall glass of water with a wedge of lemon.
“Did Novis talk to you?”
“Yes,” he replied, taking a short sip of his water. “I’ve raised the security level and the monitors in the living room will remain on at all times.”
Max strutted in and circled around his ankles with a meow. Justus set down his glass and stared at my panther boy, who started licking his wet boots.
“Ghuardian, I’d like to go outside before the snow melts.”
He chuckled and rubbed his hands up and down his face. “Let me guess, you want to play in the snow?”
I scrunched my mouth. “I grew up in hell and we rarely saw winter.”
“Tell you what—I’ll escort you outside once it dies down.”
“Gracias,” I said, bowing to him.
Maybe this kind of thing got old for those who grew up in it, but I wanted to enjoy the thrill of throwing a few snowballs at his head.
I made my way downstairs and offered Page a set of silk pajamas. They were a make-up gift from Sunny after the embarrassing lingerie she bought for my birthday, which I returned. It was Sunny’s way of giving me the middle finger because they were purple with giant orchids. We had an extra toothbrush and razor lying around, which I set aside for Page. She was upset that Justus wouldn’t allow her to try to make it out of there in that beat-up Toyota of hers.
I grabbed an extra pillow from the closet, a soft green throw, and a pair of blue slippers. Justus ambled down the hall on his way to bed.
I peered in the guest room. “Page, I got you…”
Page was fast asleep. We hadn’t turned down the bed yet, and it looked like as soon as she sat down and curled up, exhaustion consumed her. I draped the throw across her legs, setting the pillow on the floor in case she woke up with a stiff neck.
Justus loomed in the doorway.
“She’s asleep,” I whispered. “Let’s go to bed.”
***
The next morning, the house felt uncomfortably warm. Justus usually kept the thermostat at level Siberia, so I wasn’t about to complain. The electric bill was doubtfully his motive because as a Thermal, he had the ability to regulate his body temperature. He never took my complaints seriously, only telling me about when he was a child, he once slept outside without any shoes during a blizzard.
Sweet cocoa warmed my tongue, but what a shame there were no marshmallows left. Justus strode into the kitchen, sweating like a bull in his black workout pants and tank top. His chest and shoulders were ruddy, a telltale sign he’d been working out harder than usual.
“Who won? You or the punching bag?” I warmed my fingers around the cup, my mood ring tapping on the edge.
He lifted a tall bottle of water from inside the fridge, gulping down several swallows between pants.
“You should take a day off from that, you know.”
“Just because you’ve been slacking in your training doesn’t give me permission. I’m disciplined, Silver. You should try it.”
I nearly spilled my drink when Page appeared in the doorway. I wasn’t used to someone else being in the house besides Justus.
“I’d love an explanation of how I ended up in the bedroom at the end of the hall.” She brushed a swath of messy hair away from her face.
My eyes landed on Justus, who was avoiding eye contact. There were two bedrooms on that floor, and she sure didn’t sleep in my room last night.
Justus wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm and crossed one foot over the other as he leaned against the counter. “Are you hungry? We should eat,” he asked and declared, all at once.
I blew on the froth of my cocoa and slurped down another delicious sip.
“No,” she said, massaging her wrist. “I’ll pick up a bite at McDonald’s on the way home.”
We followed her into the living room and I plopped down on the long sofa, covering up with a red blanket. Max’s tail stuck out from beneath one of the leather chairs, sweeping left and right.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Justus informed her. “The snow tapered off last night, but the roads are treacherous.” He pointed at the monitors. “They rarely send the city trucks this far out to clear them.”
“Look, I really appreciate your hospitality and putting me up for the night, but snow is snow. Frozen flakes of water are not going to keep me from getting back to my job.”
Justus laughed boldly and chugged a mouthful of water. “You’re mortal. If that object you call a car slides off the road, you could freeze to death.”
“Not if you carry her, Ghuardian. She won’t have to worry about freezing.”
I gave a wide, toothy grin and immediately felt like running when he cut me a glare so sharp that it could have split atoms. He was used to the banter, but I crossed the line when I did it in front of company. Maybe the jaw-clenching tipped me off.
I leapt up and Max flew out from beneath the chair and skidded between Justus’s legs. I snorted, watching Justus lift his knee and turn to watch him go.
“Ghuardian, I’m going to get dressed and head outside.”
I dashed to my room—as much as one can dash going down secret lifts—and bundled up in a pair of jeans, a heavy white sweater, and knee-high black boots. Not the kind made for snow, but for coolness. When Justus had stockpiled my wardrobe, practical items for winter weren’t considered. I lacked a decent pair of waterproof gloves and thermal anything. I grabbed my coat and tucked a black knit hat over my head.
When I made it back upstairs, Justus was stretched out on the sofa, already showered and watching the monitors on the wall. I glared at his snow boots, nylon pants, and thin shirt with long sleeves and a hood.
“Is that going to be warm enough for you?”
He cocked his head at my inane question. Justus the Thermal could go outside naked and enjoy a lovely glass of frozen margarita while sitting on a glacier.
Page came up from behind and looped her long white scarf around her neck. “I’ll go with you, Silver. I want to see what all the fuss is about.”
Justus lowered the security to allow us out of the house; stealth meant no one in and no one out. Once we got topside to his oversized garage that housed only a few cars, the door lifted and I ran into the snow. It crunched beneath my feet and I wasn’t thinking about lifting my knees, so I tumbled facedown. Even wit
h a face full of snow, I could barely contain my laughter.
“Holy shit, Page. Where’s your car?” I yelled out, looking at a giant snowball.
“I guess that mound over there.” She hiked through the snow in her flat sneakers and knocked off a chunk from the hood. It was buried in snowdrift. “Hey, can someone get me a broom or something?”
I heard the insistent crunching of heavy boots trudging through snow as Justus plowed his way to her side.
“Hey, Justus!” I yelled. “Why don’t you just lay down on the car? That should—”
A snowball hit me in the face. Beneath his stoic expression was a hint of a smile. I wasn’t supposed to address him by his given name while under his Ghuardianship, so that was my warning.
“Oh, it’s on,” I declared.
I retaliated with a few snowballs and he ducked, but the last one clipped the back of his head and Page let out a high-pitched, melodic laugh. When Justus turned his head, all I saw were teeth. The man was actually smiling—with his teeth! It wasn’t the fake smirk or the wide grin he gave the women at the bar. I hated to dwell on such a thing, but Justus concealed his emotions and I rarely got a glimpse of the real guy beneath all the layers of Armani and cologne. He looked five years younger.
Justus began breaking up the snow and clearing it off the roof of her car. Page used her bare hands to clean the windshield, and snow covered her arms. Mine were already red and swollen from the biting air, so I cupped them together and warmed my fingers with a heated breath. The snow wasn’t as deep in the woods, and branches hung low with the heavy weight of winter.
I scooped up a handful and tasted it.
“Avoid the yellow snow,” Justus said without a hint of humor in his voice, which made it funnier.
I lost my balance and fell backward. As miserably cold as I was lying in a pit of snow, I took a moment to admire the silent clouds drifting overhead. My life had turned so serious that I needed to cut loose and laugh.
“Ghuardian,” I panted, blowing out a white, frosty breath as I approached the car. “Do you want me to start digging out the driveway?”
I glanced at a yellow triangle hanging on the back windshield that read: Genius on Board.
Page had a sense of humor. Especially given that most geniuses wouldn’t be caught dead driving that beat-up car.
He lifted his blue eyes toward the winding path. “No, allow me to take care of that. We should move inside and change into dry clothes. I’ll work on the path later.” Justus lifted his face to the sky, squinting at the billowy clouds. “I think we’ll be okay,” he murmured to himself, as if he could read something in the sky. Sometimes I got a glimpse of the man who had lived many lives, in different eras. How surreal to think of all the changes in history that Justus had witnessed in his lifetime.
Once inside, we stomped around in the outside hall to knock off the snow from our shoes so we wouldn’t track it into the house. I collapsed in the entrance hallway, lying on my back.
“I’m exhausted.” I unzipped my ruined boots. “Sorry to report that these are going into the trash.”
“Here, let me help you.” Page crouched beside my feet and gripped the heel, giving it a tug. I slipped out of my coat and shivered.
“Page, look at your hands,” I said, noticing how swollen and red they were.
“It’s fine.”
Justus closed the door and towered over her. “Let me see your hands.”
When she didn’t obey, he crouched down and clasped his strong hands around hers.
A moment passed and her doe eyes lifted to his. “Is that heat coming from you? Silver made a few remarks, but I’ve never actually met a Thermal. That’s really an amazing gift.”
Justus wasn’t very good at containing an emotion called pride. It showed in the subtle way that he straightened his back and his eyes glittered.
She pulled away. “It stings… maybe too much heat.”
At the break in contact, Justus stood up, grabbed the pile of wet clothes, and left the room.
“You have free rein over my closet, Page. I’ll throw your clothes in the dryer, but we’re pretty close to the same size if you want to borrow mine.”
She tugged at my other boot and I peeled off my socks. “You’re very kind, Silver. Don’t ever lose that quality with age. Even some of the Learners that I meet have an air of superiority about them, as if they are the chosen ones.” She unlaced her shoes and threw her wet socks beside mine.
“Probably because they were chosen.” Her eyes latched on to mine in surprise. “My Creator made me against my will. I choose my life now, but I wasn’t a chosen one.” I emphasized my words by using my fingers to make quotation marks in the air. “That’s why I’m like one of those wild stallions—always running off and kicking my heels. At least, that’s what Justus tells me. This is my life now, but you have to admit we have some pretty ridiculous rules.”
“And Justus took you in? It just seems so…”
“Unlike him? I know. I thought he was a prick when I met him too.”
She smothered a laugh and pulled off her scarf.
“He’s an honorable man who wants to do the right thing,” I said. “You get used to his personality after a while and eventually learn to love the grumpiness that is Justus.”
Page stood up, pulling off her coat. “If you say so. I’m going to switch out of these jeans before they adhere to my legs.”
“Do you ever go out?” I asked out of curiosity. “For fun.”
“Umm, on occasion. Why?”
“Just wondering if you’d like to do a girls’ night out with me and Sunny. I’d love to have some of those again. Being surrounded by all this testosterone just isn’t good chicken soup for the soul.”
Page pressed her lips together and gave a short smile. For a bookworm who wore reading glasses and avoided makeup, Page shined in her own lovely way. Her light brown hair had an edgy cut that tapered off around her neck and a long swoop of bangs parted on the side. It was a practical haircut for a woman who didn’t like fussing over her appearance. Page had feminine features with delicate hands, and an elfin smile that reminded me of Finn.
“I might enjoy that, Silver. Sounds like fun.”
Chapter 3
It was refreshing to have another woman around the house. Besides Sunny, I didn’t really talk to many women as most of them latched on to my Ghuardian like Velcro.
Page spent the morning having consultations with her clients. Justus set up the webcam in the study so she could have virtual meetings. He disappeared for hours in a private room to work, and there must have been progress since he came out at one point with victory splashed on his face.
By afternoon, I’d heated up some soup and delivered Page her third cup of coffee. Once in a while, I passed by the room and saw her nose in a book. For reading, she wore a fashionable pair of black-framed, rectangular glasses. Strange to think I’d never have to worry about failing vision, suspicious moles, or the million other things average people dealt with over the course of their lives.
I lazily collapsed on the sofa, watching the snow on surveillance before flipping it to the aquarium screensaver. Large monitors covered the wall on the left, and while each ran independently, they could also produce a single image. When I realized that we could watch movies on them, I had paid a visit to the store and grabbed a bunch of random titles. Watching period pieces with Justus was painful because he’d always remark, “That’s not how it really was.” He hated modern comedies and tolerated some of the action films. But I caught him standing in a quiet corner by the hall whenever I put on Sense and Sensibility, Braveheart, or something with amazing cinematography.
Justus shoveled snow for hours before coming back inside. He showered and changed into a cotton shirt with skintight long sleeves that hugged his muscular build. Not his usual color either, but white as snow. His beige trousers were a little loose but showed off his athletic legs.
His arms looked like they wanted to rip free
from the confines of the cotton that was stretched to the max. Justus settled his weight against his right shoulder and leaned on the doorframe, staring at our faux fireplace.
“What’s wrong, Ghuardian?”
“Why do you continue running coffee down to the Relic? You should feed our guest.”
“She said she was too busy and didn’t want me to go through the trouble. I guess she’s not much of a cook and mostly grabs takeout or fast food; maybe a homemade meal isn’t what Page is craving.”
Justus turned on his heel and walked out of the room. I followed close behind as we went into the kitchen. Justus stood before the open fridge, staring at a bag of potatoes, deli meat, and a dozen soda cans.
I’d learned to whip up a few basic meals, but we often lacked the necessary ingredients. I wasn’t a patient person in the kitchen, but I did make a good enchilada that Justus enjoyed. Logan made cooking seem effortless and often fixed me a meal when we were together. I loved the way he always needed to reach for something in the very place I was standing. He’d ease up behind me and kiss my neck as he pulled a spatula from a drawer.
Needless to say, I blocked the utensil drawer on a regular basis whenever he was over.
“I’ll make omelets or something,” I volunteered, pulling his arm so I could grab the eggs.
Justus bullied me toward the door. “Tell her to wrap up the work she’s been doing and get off my computer. Bring her upstairs,” he said gruffly.
I shrugged and went to the secret lift in the bathroom shower that lowered into the training room downstairs. Page scribbled in a small notebook, sitting behind the grandiose desk in the study. Justus had recovered a few things from the old house that weren’t damaged by the intruders, one of which hung on the wall behind her. A sword.
“Do you normally work this much?”
She scrunched her hair but didn’t look up. “It’s my life.”
Gravity (Mageri Series: Book 4) Page 3