“That’s the one!” Good. He remembers something. “Do you remember the name of the movie?”
“No.”
That’s odd. Before his accident, Lorcan had perfect recall. He could see something once and never forget it. Eidetic memory.
It must be so hard to lose an essential part of yourself.
“Raina?” He interrupts me mid-stream-of consciousness recitation of events on that forgettable evening.
“Hm?”
“Never mind. Here’s Tovian.”
What was that about?
“Hi there, Sunshine.”
I feel the tug in my cheeks as my mouth curls upward at the corners. “Hiya, handsome.” He chuckles. “I miss you.”
“Not as much as I miss you.”
“Want to hear what we did today?”
“Does it involve explosions and blood?”
“You know it does.”
“Hit me.”
“What?”
“It’s an English idiom. I think it comes from gambling. It means give me something that could be good or bad, I’m ready to roll the dice.”
He’s quiet for a minute, digesting that information.
“Last night, we sneaked into the biggest pirate camp.”
“Together?”
“You should’ve seen us, Raina. Lorcan was like a ghost. I’ve never seen anyone as ruthless and deadly as he is. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
“So am I. What did you do?”
“The two of us took out hundreds of pirates.” I can hear the pride in his voice.
“How?” My heart leaps into my throat. Those are beyond dangerous odds. Those are impossible odds. No wonder Tovian is so pleased with himself. But what the fuck is Lorcan doing, dragging him into such dangerous missions?
He describes their plan in considerable detail. It involved tricking the motley crew of pirates to turn on their Skía leadership. “Our success was built on bit of planning, the element of surprise, and a bit of luck.”
“Diabolical,” I say. “Totally something Lorcan would come up with.”
“Hey, I helped to plan it too.”
“I didn’t mean to slight your contributions, Tovi.” Shit, I hurt his feelings. “I just mean that Lorcan’s mind always worked a little differently. He could figure out a solution to any problem.”
Except the problem of Zosia hating him on sight.
At the time, I hoped he’d forget about her and finally date me. That did not happen. Now, I’m glad it didn’t. I wouldn’t have met Tovian, who loves me unconditionally and has from the start.
