The Saint(136)

By dawn she could take no more from him. By dawn he could give no more to her. He gathered her body, bruised from shoulder to knee, front and back, and held her in his arms.

They didn’t speak of what had happened between them. What could they have said to each other? He had shown her his soul. She had given him her heart. They had joined their bodies and an immutable bond now sealed them together. And nothing could break them apart because nothing could break them.

When she awoke the next morning, the sun had joined them in bed.

Eleanor flinched as she stretched against the sheets. The bottoms of her feet throbbed. No doubt she still had shards of glass embedded in her skin. Her shoulders and back ached as if she’d been stretched on a rack. Her breasts and nipples were sore and swollen. Inside she was bruised and raw. She couldn’t recall ever being in this much pain.

It was the best morning of her life.

Søren opened his eyes and gazed at her like he was trying to remember where he’d seen her before. She kissed him. He kissed her back.

“So now what?” she asked.

Søren smiled and something in that smile told her she was in the biggest trouble of her life.

“Everything.”





33


Nora

NORA OPENED HER EYES AND ACROSS FROM HER IN the bed was Nico, not Søren. And she was glad to see him there, glad enough she smiled.

“Is that the end of the story?” Nico asked. She could see his eyelids were heavy, as heavy as her heart.

“The story never ends. It’s only the storyteller who grows too tired to keep telling it.”

“What happened next?”

“Kingsley came for me at Søren’s house. He came right into Søren’s bedroom and carried me to the car. I spent a week at his house recovering from that one night. Your father …” She paused and conjured the memory. She could still feel it all the way to her feet. “He put me on his bed and sat at my feet and with a pair of tweezers cleaned the shards of glass out of my skin. He said some poor bastard had to pick the shrapnel out of his chest once. This was his way of returning the kindness to the universe.”

“What happened with you and your mother?”

“She did it.” Nora rolled her eyes. “She joined a convent. When I was in college she went back to school. The order she wanted to join—the Sisters of Saint Monica—required the postulants to have a bachelor’s degree and no debt. Took her four years, but she got there. She took her first vows when I was twenty-four.”

“Were you happy for her?”

“No,” Nora admitted. “We weren’t even speaking then. I moved back in with her after college to try to mend the rift. Didn’t work. Instead she found out about me and Søren. It was a bad time. I didn’t speak to her for three years. So … you should forgive Kingsley and your mother.” She poked him in the chest. “Trust me on this. Do it now before it’s too late.”

“I want to love him,” Nico said.

He gave her a tired smile.

“I’ll tell you the story of him and Sam and his club, The 8th Circle, one day. Then you’ll love him.”

“Tell me now.”

“No, it’s almost dawn.”

“My vines need me,” he said, reaching for her and pulling her close.

“Do you like being needed?” She settled against his chest, so broad and so warm. “Doesn’t it scare you?”

“I like knowing another life depends on me for its being. I like proving it made the right choice to put its faith in me. Does it scare you?”

“Being needed? Yes. Very much. Probably one reason why I decided long ago I didn’t want children, not even Søren’s. And it’s why I’ve never owned anyone.”

“Never?”

She shook her head. “I’ve had pets—human ones. But that was just play at the club. I never owned anyone the way Søren owned me. It’s terrifying to be needed. Being responsible for another human being? For years? Sounds like a prison sentence. I don’t even have plants.”

“You should try it,” he said. “It’s not as bad as you think it is. It’s not always a prison. Sometimes it’s a palace. Subjects need their kings and queens.”

He brushed her hair off her shoulder. Nora smiled to herself.

“What?” Nico asked, touching her lips. “What’s the smile for?”

“You just reminded me of something I said once—it’s nothing.” She kissed his fingertips.

“You said you never needed Søren, but he needed you.”

“He did, yes. Even after I left him he would call me sometimes and tell me he needed me. I loved him so I went to him.”