“Murdered… murdered so intricately.” Lunette held out her left hand where a silver band glinted in the light. The ring was so thin I’d never even noticed it. “Jilly sold Alaric my engagement ring. I can’t believe someone could do something so sinister and senseless to her.”
Taking her hand, I inspected the tiny silver jewelry. “This is your engagement ring?”
“Yes, why?”
I huffed a breath. “Doesn’t look like you at all. No stone, so thin it could break from anything. No, you deserve something fine. Something subtle but remarkable and unique, just like you.”
Lunette inspected her ring, wiggling her fingers. “Well, it is a bit simple… but so were our affections for each other. Simple but true.”
“Uh huh,” I said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. I rested an elbow on my knee. “How did you two meet? You and the infallible Alaric Lonesome.”
Lunette squinted her eyes skeptically at me before smoothing her dress. “We met at Hollows Grove Library. I was there for a book on gardening. Being that I’m not a green witch, I have no skill for it outside of what I cultivate myself. Alaric was waiting for a friend, noticed my books, and asked for advice on tending his peonies.” She smiled. “Of course, I knew nothing of it, but I pretended to just so I could talk to him longer. He asked me to dinner, and we were engaged three weeks later.”
“Engaged after three weeks!? To aman!?” I couldn’t hide my disgust. “That’s exclusively a lesbian move.”
Lunette huffed a small laugh. “I didn’t realize how lonely I’d been until he mentioned his last name wasLonesome. He made me feel safe. What more do you need?”
A hell of a lot more. She deserved so much more than, what, not being physically alone and feeling safe? Those were the bare minimum in any relationship. Though she spoke of them as if they were some rare find. Did Lunette Selene not realize what a marvel she was? Did she not comprehend how she deserved so much more than simple and ordinary?
Plus, the guy was a dick who was having a secret affair. But she didn’t know that part.
After a moment, she rested her cheek on her knee and asked, “Have you ever been in love?”
My heart fluttered in my chest, answering for me. My soul answered with a reply that didn’t make sense but was true as anything had ever been true. “Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She doesn’t love me back.”
Her eyes searched mine for a long moment before she rested a hand on my wrist. “I’m sorry.”
Did she know what I was saying? Did I? It didn’t matter.
Two squirrels hopped through a pile of dried leaves, the innocent crunching awakening my senses to the fact that there was a murderer amongst us in Hollow. Suddenly, I wanted to get Lune home and some place not so open and visible. “Let’s go feed the cats,” I suggested, standing and offering her my hand.
Taking it, she agreed, before adding, “Then we will go to the graveyard?”
Maybe she sensed my protective apprehension because she’d never asked to go before, always just shown up or ordered me to go with her. “Can’t skip a night even when a rogue psycho is afoot?”
“The spell builds on itself. If I don’t go this evening, the chain will be broken, and I will have to start all over.”
My ribs tightened. “What’s in the box?”
“My veil.” She smiled as we marched toward her manor. “The dress isn’t complete, and I have to be ready to be married when he rises from the dead. I should have thought of it sooner.”
“Ah, so the plan is he pops out from the dirt like some bloody zombie and you two immediately say I do?”
“He won’t be a zombie,” she chastised, giving my bicep a gentle hit. “He will be perfect and handsome as always, though his brain and memory may be a bit questionable. But memories are recoverable with time.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
Perhaps my memories would return. Perhaps not. I was less inclined to go searching for my old mind and life and more apt to continue settling into my new one. Why would I want torecall a world before I knew Lunette? She was my eccentric and lovely white witch with her hundreds of cats and her deep care and intuition. Even her misplaced love for some idiot man was endearing in a way. She might have rejected my affections with her words, but her body betrayed her desire. Lune held my arm or hand upon every opportunity. There wasn’t a moment awake she didn’t search for me, and I for her. And then there was the not-so-small fact that she made love to me like I was her everything. Lunette kissed me like I was her savior. I fucked her like she was my last hope of waking up from my plain and bland existence. The way we danced in bed, feeding off each other’s touch, wasn’t some ordinary fling. What we had was magic. We were magic. I wasn’t going to give that up for some dead man.
I could keep her safe.
I could keep Lunette from being lonesome in every sense of the word. It sure as hell wouldn’t be her last name. No, she should keep her own last name, regardless. Selene was beautiful enough to carry with her for the rest of her days. She certainly didn’t need some man’s last name attached to her, and definitely not one as morbid asLonesome. Eventually, she would wake up from her grief-induced delusion. There would come a day when she realized she was owed more from love than safety and not feeling alone. I would show her that. I would show her that love should be something that ignites her bones. Love should be something that inspires her to focus on her life and not on death. Love shouldn’t be spent in graveyards mourning, but in the daylight, living, laughing, and being.
