by Lila Felix
THE FORMER PROPHETS ARE NOT TO BE COUNSELED FOR ADVICE ON ANY MATTER.
I was gonna kill the shaven-headed wench. I would threaten to scalp her, but apparently, someone had beaten me to that punch—several times over.
Other than being mostly inappropriate, there was one more thing I was very skilled at—insincerity.
I straightened my dress and conjured the fakest smile I could imagine. “Oh Pema, that would be lovely. How honored we would be to have you here with us.”
How’s that for your precious manners?
She squinted at me, and for a second, I thought for sure I’d have to grapple with her.
“Finally, you’ve come to your senses.”
Didn’t she learn to be silent in Tibet? Let’s see some more of that talent.
I chanced a glance at Theo. He was barely holding in a smile. The impact of what I’d almost done slammed into me. These were the things Pema had talked about. For some reason, regardless of her attitude, I trusted her. This was not about a smart-mouthed relative of the Eidolon—and it certainly wasn’t about me winning. I needed to reel myself in for him.
In my self-absorption, I’d forgotten to first be his mate.
“Pema, Collin, if you wouldn’t mind, could I have a few minutes with Colby? Then we will use our last day with the texts and move on.”
I should’ve told him what happened at the Synod. Now we had to spend a day rustling through useless texts. But then again, there was still so much information missing. If Theo was supposed to help those caught in the fray—the logistics of that notion were lost on me. If those souls were lost, how was he supposed to find them?
The thought of asking Pema felt like shoving a splinter up my own nail bed.
Pema turned on him like he’d stuck her with a hot poker. “Where will you move to?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
She pressed further. “Any ideas? Where is the information leading you?”
He cleared his throat, a time-buying tactic. “As I said, we don’t know, Pema. We will return the books to you. After that, we are not sure. Why do you want to know?”
She stiffened under the weight of his question and ticked her eyes to Collin’s place in the corner more than what would be deemed normal. It was as if she were looking for him to save her from something.
“I was just wondering. The family is eager to see how all this turns out for you. They wish the new Eidolon all the very best.”
She shifted to move around Theo, but clearly, he wasn’t done with her.
“I’ve wondered why the rest of the family doesn’t come and see me like you have.” He left the insinuation open-ended, hoping she’d take the bait.
“As you can well imagine, they are still frightened of the Synod. They can’t risk being caught.”
“But you can?”
“I am braver than most.”
Theo took more than ample time to answer, “Clearly. How lucky we are to be amidst such bravery. Please, go check on your invaluable books.” He swept his hand toward the adjoining door, dismissing her and her false bravado.
He waited until she and Collin exited before addressing me. I expected Collin to be friendly with Pema like he was before, but his attitude toward her was ambiguous—he didn’t seem to care if she was here or not.
“How do they know where we are all the time?” he asked me.
“I didn’t tell Sway or Ari we were here. In fact, I didn’t even tell my own mother. She was upset with me about it. That leaves you and Collin. And I know it’s not you.”
He shook the idea from his head. “I don’t think it’s Collin. But, I did tell my parents.”
Theo was crawling into himself. He was growing more and more serious by the day. I had to do what I could to draw him out of it.
I sauntered over to him and touched the bag still clasped in his hand. “You brought me breakfast?”
That snapped him out of it. He dropped the bag and grabbed my face with a fury. Breakfast was long forgotten as his lips crashed against mine. As soon as I got over the unexpectedness of the kiss, I matched his passion with my own. We slowly backed up until my head hit the wall with a thump. His lips were rough and needy and carried warmth I craved like air. With an animalistic aggression, he pulled my waist toward his until there was no space between us. He consumed me. No coherent thoughts could be conjured in that moment. This was no ordinary kiss—this was Theo coming back down from the heavens. This was what Pema had spoken of, and if this was the way to bring him back down from the clouds, then I was happy to oblige.
He broke free once to tell me he loved me, but I had no chance to respond before he attacked me again. This time was slower, like he’d gotten the rage out of his system and could take the time now to savor us. Needing to be even closer, I locked my left leg around his hips. I thought it would fuel him on, but instead, it seemed to cool him down. He left my lips, opting instead to place pecks on my face and temple.
“We aren’t even bonded,” he huffed out, breathless.
I giggled and attempted to pull him back to me. “That never stopped you before.”
Theo phantomed more nibbles down my neck. “We aren’t teenagers fooling around in the back of my car anymore, Colby.”
“Mmmm, that was fun.”
“Marry me.” He breathed against my mouth.
He always picked the most inopportune times to talk about such things. Now was one of those times.
“Let’s make a deal. Let’s get through all of this and then talk about the future.”
“But there is no future without you.”
“Theo, I love you, but let’s focus.”
“You love me? Just like that?”
He was goading me. “Yes, just like that, now let’s go.”
Relief flooded my system as I realized that all this Pema business had stammered our conversation about the happenings at the Synod. In all honestly, I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to relive it all.
Mostly, if Regina was correct, then Theo would have to leave me to fulfill his purpose.
And I couldn’t take that.
He picked up the bag from the bakery and dragged me with him to the other room. Pema stood facing the window while Collin was sitting on the edge of the bed, face buried in his hands. We hadn’t been gone more than ten minutes, so I couldn’t fathom what had happened to make Collin look so devastated.
“What’s going on?” Theo asked.
“They’re gone,” Pema whispered. Her shoulders slumped.
Looking around the room, I realized they were right. All the books were gone. The possibilities of who and when filtered through my thoughts. I was with the Synod the day before and Theo needed the texts. Pema certainly wouldn’t lead someone to steal them after coming down on me so hard about taking them in the first place.
The only possibility left was one I didn’t want to face. From the first moment I’d met him, Collin had seemed like the one person we could trust.