Free Web NovelChapter 292: Chapter 292: Are You Crying?
He thought about it.
"When I was fourteen," he said, "I convinced Silas that the old well on the north edge of the estate was haunted. I did the whole thing, moved his stuff, made noises at night, left wet footprints on the floor outside his room." He paused. "He didn’t believe in ghosts even at fourteen. He figured it out in two days and didn’t say anything for a week. Just waited until I’d completely forgotten about it."
"What did he do," Eve said.
"Rearranged everything in my room," Damon said. "Perfectly. Every single thing moved exactly two inches to the left. Not enough to obviously notice. Just enough that nothing felt right. For weeks." He shook his head. "I thought I was losing my mind before he told me."
Eve laughed. "That’s very Silas."
"Patient and thorough," Damon said. "He’s never done anything halfway in his life."
Eve glanced back at Silas over her shoulder.
Silas caught her looking and raised an eyebrow.
She turned forward again and pressed her lips together.
"Don’t tell him I told you," Damon said.
"He definitely already knows you told me," she said.
"He can’t know. I just told you."
"Damon," she said. "He always knows."
Damon thought about that.
She had a point.
They stopped outside a small bakery near the end of the street.
The smell coming out of it was extraordinary, warm bread and something sweet and the kind of thing that stopped you walking without deciding to stop.
"We just ate," Damian said.
"And?" Damon said.
"We ate a full meal forty minutes ago," Damian said.
"I know," Damon said. "And now I want a pastry." He looked at Damian. "When did you become someone who says no to pastries."
"I’m not saying no to pastries," Damian said. "I’m observing that we recently ate."
"Observation noted," Damon said. "We’re going in."
He looked at Eve.
She was already looking at the window display with the expression of someone who had made a decision.
"I want the one with the custard," she said.
"Obviously," he said.
They went inside and purchase almost everything inside the bakery.
They came outside and decided to sit in front of the shop to eat what they bought before it becomes cold..
All four of them on the same bench which was not really designed for four adults but nobody suggested finding another one. Damon ended up with his arm along the back and Eve under it and Silas and Damian on the other side with exactly the right amount of space between them that characterized their entire relationship.
The village went on around them.
The old man with the dog came back past in the other direction. The dog stopped and looked at them and the old man apologized and they said it was fine and the dog sniffed Damon’s hand and wagged and moved on. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Eve watched them go.
She was leaning against Damon’s side eating her custard pastry with her legs crossed and the afternoon light on her face which made her look....content. Genuinely, completely content. Not holding anything. Not managing anything. Just a woman on a bench eating a pastry in a village where nobody knew her name.
"Can I ask you all something," she said.
"Yes," all three of them said at the same time.
She looked along the bench at them.
"When the faction meetings start next week," she said. "When all of it starts...the political stuff, the Conclave reform conversations, building what my parents wanted to build, are you going to be okay with what that means?" She paused. "For all of us. Our lives. The estate. The pack." She looked at each of them. "It’s going to change things. I want to know you’re actually okay with that."
Damian looked at her. "What do you think we’ve been doing for the past six months," he said.
"Fighting to get here," she said. "That’s different from choosing to stay."
He held her gaze.
"I choose it," he said. Simply. "Every day. I choose you and what you’re building and what it means for all of us." He paused. "That hasn’t been in question for a long time."
She looked at Silas.
"I’m exactly where I want to be," Silas said. "I told you yesterday. This is what I want. Whatever shape it takes." He paused. "You’re not a burden Eve. You’re what makes it worth doing."
She looked at Damon.
He was already looking at her.
"I reached for you before I knew any of this was coming," he said. "Before the Court and the petition and Malachai and all of it. I just reached because something in me recognized you." He shrugged. "Nothing that happened after changes that. Nothing that’s coming changes it either."
Eve looked at all three of them.
Her eyes were bright.
She blinked once.
Looked back at her pastry.
"Okay," she said. Her voice was slightly rough. "Good."
"Are you crying," Damon said.
"No," she said.
"Your eyes are..."
"Damon," she said.
"Right," he said. "Sorry."
He pressed his mouth to her temple briefly.
She leaned into it for a second.
Then she straightened up and finished her pastry while looked out at the village street.
They sat there for a long time.
Nobody said anything.
Nobody needed to.
***
The portal home happened at five.
Eve opened it from a quiet alley at the edge of the village, away from anyone who might see. The estate backyard appeared on the other side of it, familiar and warm in the early evening light.
Damon stepped through last.
He looked back at Threnwick for a second before the portal closed. At the village street and the bakery and the bench where they had sat all afternoon.
He thought about driving past this place three years ago and smelling something good and telling himself he’d come back.
He had come back and It had been worth the wait.
He stepped through and the portal closed behind him.
