Verum (The Nocte Trilogy 2)

Chapter 29

Days pass and they turn into nights, and all of them pass in Dare’s arms. He holds me, croons to me, loves me.

And

Then

One

Day,

When the sky is blue and for once it isn’t raining,

We take a trip to town.

Dare drives and we put the windows down, and the wind blows through our hair on the road.

I buy him a t-shirt because he doesn’t own one.

Black, with orange letters.

Irony is Lost on You.

“But it’s not,” he chuckles when I hand it to him. “Life is ironic. It’s not lost on me.”

But he puts it on, right over his button-up and he looks ridiculous. He doesn’t seem to mind, and he holds my hand in the daylight.

“Let’s drive to the ocean.”

“Ok.” Because I miss it. Because even though Oregon is rainy and gray, I loved living next to the water.

As we walk to the car, I’m distracted by a street vendor, a tiny old man with blue eyes and a friendly grin. He has jewelry laid out on a cart, and something catches my eye.

A silver ring, gleaming in the light.

“All of my things are antiques,” he tells me proudly. I pick up the ring.

“That’s a size twelve. It was the wedding ring of an aristocrat,” he explains. “I buffed the scratches out, but that ring is loved. His wife swore to me it protected him, on more than one occasion.”

“Protected him from what?” I ask curiously. The old man smiles.

“From everything.”

I buy it on the spot, and offer it to Dare.

“Everyone can use protection,” I tell him, half-joking, half not. He rolls his eyes but slides it on to his middle finger.

“Then I shall be protected,” he announces. “I’ll consider it an early Valentine’s Day gift.

“Valentine’s is months away,” I point out. He smiles.

“I know.”

I feel an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, as though I know what is going to happen next… as though all of this already happened. Didn’t it?

I don’t know.

I don’t know anything at all.