“I’m only hurting you by being here!” I cried.
“Then I welcome the pain, Eve, because it is the greatest pleasure of my life.”
“You shouldn’t feel that way, Enoch.”
“And yet I do. You are my huntress. You have staked my heart without piercing my flesh. My heart is yours. Please, stay for a time and when you need to leave, I will try my best to let you go.”
“The longer I stay, the harder it will be to leave,” I whispered.
Softly, his lips captured mine. A storm roiled in his eyes as his met mine and he deepened the kiss. He called me his huntress, but didn’t proclaim himself the hunter of my heart. And everyone who knew me knew that it belonged to him. It had been from the moment he smiled at me. When I disappeared in the stone room of his castle and he laughed, in awe of what I could do, it shook the foundation of lies from which my life had been built.
My hands traveled up his arms and over his shoulders, pulling him closer. He let out a small growl. A laugh escaped unbidden and I pulled away from him.
“You are cruel,” he teased with a grin.
Just then, my head began to throb. Wincing against the sudden brightness of the sun, I suggested we go inside.
“I have to finish helping Asa with repairs. Tomorrow, we’re expected to host dinner for a man who considers himself important.”
“Considers himself important, or is considered important?” I asked.
“Both,” he answered. “Though I hate to admit it.” He grabbed my hands. “Please stay. Stay for the dinner. There might even be dancing afterward.”
“Fancy. Why does Asa get the honor of hosting such a guest?”
Enoch glanced at the house. “We are considered members of high society in the region.”
“That means you’re rich and they want to party at your place, right?” I grinned.
He smiled. “Exactly. And before you ask, Robert Benjamin is not hot. At all. Nor are his men.”
“Confounding,” I volleyed, giving him a wink. “Good thing you’re here.” I took his arm and we began to walk down the brick paths cutting through the garden. “Where in the garden was 1776 when she was stabbed?”
He turned and gestured to a set of tall hedges formed into a small maze in the back of the garden. “She said she never saw the face of her attacker,” he added, sounding as if he wanted to say more.
“Just so we’re clear, I’m not posing as Asa’s fiancée. You two can formulate a lie that she was my twin, or come up with a scandal that says I traded him for you, but I’m not pretending to belong to him again. From here on out, I refuse to be anything other than yours.”
Enoch’s brows rose. “Scandalous, indeed. Such a story would feed the harpies for months.”
I gave him a saccharine smile. “I’m glad I could help.”
“I love that you are mine,” he said softly, taking my hand in his and leaning in for another kiss.
I loved that he was mine, too. Maybe Titus and I could stay a few more days…
Chapter Thirteen
Eve
Most of the remaining day was spent repairing what the fire had damaged, but what could be done was only temporary fixes. It wasn’t like they could run to a hardware or lumber store and get what they needed. By the end of the day, the structure was relatively sound. The gaping windows were boarded up to keep out the weather and Asa seemed satisfied.
I’d opened every remaining window in the house to let the breeze sweep the smoky smell from the air, but something kept pulling my thoughts to the garden, to the attack on 1776. Could it have been Asa himself? Enoch said he was evil.
Or maybe it was Terah? She was certifiably insane, after all. Ever since the night she crept into my room, she’d been acting weird. She pretended to avoid me, but I caught her peeking around corners a few times.
The stabbing could’ve been perpetuated by a member of their staff. I didn’t know anyone here other than the Nephilim and Mary, who had stuck around since she came to warn Asa about Enoch’s home. I learned that unless Asa called on her to fight, she worked at Enoch’s estate, watching over and protecting the herds of sheep and goats, feeding them and brushing them. Despite her being a vampire, the animals weren’t afraid of her. She was gentle and kind.
I watched her as she sat under the shade of an oak outside. Every inch of her skin was covered, and she wore the same wide-brimmed hat I’d first seen her wearing. I walked out to talk to her. She smiled as I approached.
“Miss Eve,” she greeted.
“It’s good to see you, Mary. Are these Enoch’s?” A small herd of goats and their kids fed on the tall grasses just beyond the tree’s reach.
“They are. We’re merging his herds with Asa’s until Enoch can rebuild.”
I decided to ask the question that had been lingering at the edge of my thoughts since I first saw her sitting out there. “I thought you were in Asa’s company. Why were you at Enoch’s?”
If she was offended by my question, she didn’t show it. “Asa asked me to watch over Enoch’s place because he was gone.”
I wondered if Enoch had let himself think about everything he needed to do just to recover from the damage Abram caused. If he didn’t regret siring Abram before, I’m sure he did now. If Enoch ever caught Abram he would kill him, and Abram would deserve it a thousand times over.
“You feelin’ okay, Miss?”
I wasn’t, but the fact that she noticed even though she didn’t know me well didn’t bode well for keeping it hidden from Titus or Enoch. “I’m a little tired, I guess.”
“You aren’t like the other one,” she noted. “Enoch explained some things to me. I don’t understand it entirely, but I know your twin was with Asa, and you are with Enoch, and the two of you fought like the two brothers do sometimes.” She chuckled. “They’ve really gone at each other a couple times. As strong as I am, I wouldn’t want to get into a scuffle with either one of them. But you ain’t like her. She was always lookin’ around, though I didn’t know for what. But she’d pilfer in everything she could. I caught her spyin’ on Enoch a few times and run her out of his place. She’d run home to Asa and pretend like nothin’ happened, and then lie when I told him she’d been pokin’ her nose where it didn’t belong.”
“What do you think she was looking for?”
“I have no idea. Maybe she thought Asa had a mistress.” She laughed, holding her hat tight to her head as a gust of wind blew through.
“Did he?”
She shrugged, raising both brows. “I don’t know. Truthfully, I don’t care what he does or doesn’t do.”
“Do you think she loved him?”
Mary pursed her lips. “Not a bit. And he didn’t love her, either. You know how I could tell?” She patted the ground beside her and I sat down, laughing as a small brown and black kid nibbled at the edge of my skirt.
“How did you know?”
“Because there was no love in their eyes. They watched each other like each of ‘em was a hawk and there was a single mouse in the field below. Not two mice, just one, and each of ‘em wanted that mouse. They were watchin’ and waitin’ for the right time to dive down and snatch it up for themselves. That ain’t love. Love is givin’. Love ain’t all takin’.”