Verum (The Nocte Trilogy 2)

“A letter came for you today,” she tells me and hands me a battered envelope.

I rip it open to find my father’s handwriting.

It’s time to come home, he says simply.

I think he might be right.

Soon.

It’s time to go home soon.

I leave Sabine in her room, and I search for Dare.

I find him in the secret garden alone.

My heart jumps when I see him, at the way he leans against an angel statue so irreverently, at the familiarity in his eyes when he sees me. I fight the urge to leap into his arms, but of course I don’t, because the warmth in his eyes has cooled.

“What are you doing out here?” he asks, so reserved.

I’m flustered.

“Hunting for you.”

“I’m not good for you,” he offers. “Maybe you should stop hunting for me.”

My heart twinges.

“Never.”

His expression falters.

“You need to let me figure out what’s good for me,” I add.

He looks at me sadly. “I can’t. You don’t know all of the facts.”

“So tell me.”

“I can’t do that, either.”

We’re at an impasse, a fork in the road.

There are two roads, and I always take the wrong one.

“You’ll destroy me,” I r

emember Sabine’s foreboding words. Dare closes his eyes, and nods.

“What does that mean?” My voice is raw.

There is pain in Dare’s eyes, real pain.

The kind of pain that can’t be hidden, can’t be contained.

“I want you to know,” he tells me, each word an honest rasp.

“But you can’t tell me,” I guess. He nods.

“Not yet. You’ll come to in it in order.”