“I can teach you how to drive,” Zephyr says, wrapping his arm around my lower back. “But I wanted to know that you’ll have it if you need it.”
It feels a lot like the implied last part of that sentence is,you’ll have it for when I’m not here to fly you to work, and the thought causes a pit to form in my gut.
On the bright side, if he’s planning to head back to Heaven, I guess I won’t have to tell him the truth about what I am. He can fly off on his next mission, and whatever it is between us can be left as a fling.
I fucking hate that thought, and a shiver of revulsion runs through my entire body.
“You’re cold? Of course you are. It’s chilly, give me just one moment.” Zephyr disappears in a shimmery cloud of smoke before I can assure him that I’m not cold. He reappears with the same jacket he clad me in at Rut the night he moved in, and my eyes burn as he helps me into it.
Goddammit.
I’m supposed to be a badass devourer.
I will not cry over a man who has always planned to leave.
I just hate that he’s so…sweet.
That really doesn’t matter if he has no plans to stick around. Now, does it?
I hate being a realist.
Why is he even bothering to be so thoughtful when he plans to abandon me?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Zephyr
Hazel is distant. It could be exhaustion taking its toll, but I don’t like it. She opens the store and keeps herself busy while I try to find something to spark a conversation between us.
“Would you like me to run out and grab you something for breakfast?” I ask, watching as she flits around the shop.
“Oh no, that’s okay. I ate before I came to your room.” She lies quite unconvincingly, and it only succeeds in setting me further on edge.
Hazel disappears into the storeroom and reappears with a huge box in her arms several minutes later.
I stride across the room, extending my arms. “Here, let me help with that.”
She laughs. “It’s not heavy, but thank you for offering.”
Why the hell is she suddenly acting like I have a contagious disease?
It’s almost as if she can’t stand to have me within three feet of her.
Is she trying to keep the fact she bonded Annex a secret? I could scent it the moment I stepped out of my room.
It serves me right.
I spent a lot of time last night in self-reflection as I sat around Chaos, drinking my sorrows. Sure, it started out as an attempt to lure out the creature, but even that was half-hearted.
At this point, my only goal in dealing with that particular monster is to have a guarantee that it won’t ever be able to harm Hazel.
If the creature is some kind of reaper that I’ve never been exposed to, I can’t exactly blame it for honoring its calling. I have even more complicated feelings about not realizing exactly how low Levi had fallen.
It all leads to a very surly version of myself leaning against the wall in Spellbound as Hazel works. I’m still unsure how the shop stays in business. The little witch spends most of her time cleaning and organizing while serving a whopping four customers before one p.m.
The longer Hazel goes without talking to me, the more unhinged I find myself becoming.
Was it the gift?
