She looks good. Better than good. Her hair is back to the bright pink she favored a little over a year ago, and she’s wearing black ankle boots, dark jeans that hug her legs, and a loose, gray knitted sweater. She’s utterly gorgeous.
She tucks her hair behind her ears. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I say faintly. I don’t know what I’m doing, what I’m supposed to say. Once again, I’m reminded my mother always taught me to never step onto a battlefield unless I’m sure I can win, and I’ve already lost when it comes to Aurora. If I’m going to be honest, I lost the second I saw her all those years ago.
She looks around the room, eyeing the gray chair. “That’s new.”
“Rogue took exception to the last one.”
Her lips curve. “That cat is a menace.”
“Yes, he is. It happened the day after you left. I think he missed you.” This is horrible. She’s here and yet not here, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. In the end, I can’t keep up this meaningless small talk. “Aurora, why are you here?”
“I talked to Hades.” She clasps her hands in front of her, still not quite meeting my gaze. “And I’ve talked to Allecto and Meg and Tink, and even Hercules.”
Where is she going with this? “I would think they’d want you as far from me as possible.”
“They want what’s best for me.” She gives a sad little laugh. “And they respect that I know myself well enough to know what’s best for me.”
I wait, but she’s too busy wringing her fingers together to keep going. I clear my throat. “What are you saying?”
“Do you know who I wanted to talk to the most while I’ve been working through things for the last two weeks?” She finally releases the death grip she has on her fingers and tugs at the hem of her sweater. “I was so angry and confused and hurt and then angrier, and even though all my friends were around me, there was only one person I wanted.”
I can’t breathe. I’m half sure I’ve turned to stone. “Who?”
She gives a breathless little laugh. “You.”
It’s what I want to hear, but I’m so afraid to trust it. “You hate me.”
“I…” Aurora shakes her head. “I had to hate you to deal with how much I wanted you. It’s easier to blame you than to blame my mother for her choices. She was gone, even before she died, and you were here and larger than life and constantly making me feel things I didn’t want to feel.”
“Aurora—”
“I realize that this seems too good to be true, but it’s what I feel.” She looks away and then back at me. “I’m a mess, Malone. I’ve been grieving my mother for twenty years, and there were times when I felt like there was no end to that feeling, but I’m ready to let her go. I’m sorry that I wanted to hurt you.”
“Don’t be.” I want to reach for her, want to pull her into my arms, but I don’t want to make a wrong move. “You’re more than entitled to hate me.”
“But that’s just it. I don’t hate you.” She smiles suddenly. It’s not her bright sunshine smile; it’s a bittersweet little quirk of her lips that warms her dark eyes. “I love you.”
Of all the things I expected her to say… “What?”
“I know. It surprised me, too. But that doesn’t make it less true.”
I can’t stand this distance between us any longer. I hold out my hand. “Aurora, come here.”
“In a moment. There’s a few other things.” She shifts from foot to foot. “I forgive you for what happened twenty years ago. I can’t promise that it won’t knock me for a loop periodically because grief is weird, and I’m still working through it, but I promise not to throw it in your face.”
It’s more than I could have imagined. “And the other?”
“I’m going to keep working in the Underworld, albeit I’m going to scale back to four nights a week. It makes me happy, and even though I love you, I’m not…” She shrugs. “I’m polyamorous. It’s who I am.”
“I know.” I’m not remotely surprised. Haven’t I considered that possibility from the moment I decided on her? Still, I have to ask questions instead of blindly agreeing. “What about Hades? He’ll have a problem with you working there and then coming home to me.”
“Hades trusts me enough to keep business and personal separate. The secrets of the Underworld stay there, just like whatever happens here stays between us. That is, if you agree.”
“I agree.”
She blinks. “You’re not even going to think about it first?”
“Aurora, do you honestly think I hadn’t considered this from all angles before I told you I wanted to continue things past the deadline of the assignation? You love working in the Underworld; of course you were going to continue there if that was an option. It makes you happy.”