I blinked slowly. “Is this hell? Are we stuck together forever?” I whispered.
His scowl was monumental. “You’d be lucky to be stuck with me for eternity.”
I blinked again.
“You’re not dead. Would you stop with that shit already?” he grumbled.
“I’m not?” I asked, moving my fingers to the side a little and finding… oh yeah. It was there, that ultra-slow thump pumping beneath the shell of his bones. “Oh.”
“Yeah. You see,” he confirmed, raising an eyebrow before flicking his eyes to the hand I still had pressed against his fancy shirt.
“What happened? Where are we?” I folded my arm beneath my head. “Did someone poison me?”
“What happened is that you came up to me, said you weren’t feeling good, and passed out. We’re still here. Agatha checked you out, your blood pressure was low. Maybe being around my grandmother had something to do with it.” His nose scrunched up. “No one tried to poison you.”
Oh boy. “I passed out?” That was fucking embarrassing.
He nodded. “How do you feel?”
“My head is funny, and I might die of shame, but my vision isn’t blurry anymore.”
He didn’t like that shit. His eyes narrowed. “I should have known. I didn’t think it was that bad.”
I hadn’t thought I was that bad either. I’d been through worse with him, way worse.
His voice was gruff. “You’ll tell me if you start to feel bad again?”
“Yes.” Was he worried? Or was he embarrassed that I’d done that in front of his family?
“Promise,” he grumbled.
“I promise.”
His eyelids dropped over his eyes, and I knew he didn’t totally believe me.
“Promise,” I insisted, earning me another long look from a face that made the guy who played Electro-Man in the movies look like a knockoff superhero. “What?”
His lips pressed together. “I thought you were dying.”
I knew it!
“You went limp, and you smelled wrong. I don’t like the way that made me feel.” His gaze moved to meet mine, and he pointed his index finger at my nose. “I mean it. No more fainting.”
It was so hard not to laugh. He genuinely sounded so put-out.
He’d been worried about me.
Friends worried about each other. Friends cared. They wanted the best for you.
And here we were.
“Control my bodily functions after spending time with your grandma and learning a bunch of crazy top-secret knowledge, got it,” I whispered sarcastically, watching his face, trying not to take it too much to heart.
But failing.
Because… I was sure he cared. About me. Alex cared, and I couldn’t show it on my face or I’d ruin it.
But it was like learning the earth really was flat.
“Exactly,” he agreed in that low, grumbly voice.
I had to keep my face straight. I couldn’t let my heartbeat get all funny or let my eyes water as I looked at the flawless features right in front of me, all concerned and irritated at the same time. I couldn’t react to the tip of the finger that was now barely brushing the tip of my nose. Definitely couldn’t do that.
His expression was sober. “No more fainting.”
I pressed my lips together. “No more fainting… if I can help it.”
“Promise me.”
I had to cling to my sarcasm so that my body wouldn’t betray me. I couldn’t fucking smile. “You’re really annoying when you’re bossy, but yes, I promise.” Okay, I smiled just a little, but just a little.
He narrowed his eyes, fully aware of my bullshit.
I guess we both knew each other too well at this point.
The door creaked open.
I held my breath as I took in the figure there.
“Grandmother,” Alex greeted the woman standing at the doorframe, her fingers wrapped around a cane that looked…
Was that a huge emerald on the top of it?
The amount of power she managed to pack in her body, it electrified my cells. It was a rough buzz beneath my skin. For some reason though, this time it made me a little less nauseous and more… awake?
“Is there something we can do for you, Grandmother?” Alex asked, still not moving from where he was.
She raised her chin. “You can leave the room. I want to speak with your Gracie.”
I had a feeling about that “your Gracie” thing.
“Alone, Alexander. You can wait outside,” the older woman said. She obviously knew a door and some drywall wasn’t going to block out our voices, but all right.
I felt his gaze shift back toward me, and I met it, giving him a nod that was 98 percent reluctant.
Did I want to be alone with her? Hell no. But I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her no either.
Plus, maybe she wanted to tell me about my grandpa, not that she really knew him, but it seemed like she might have known his parents. Who were also family. I knew his mom had passed away right after I’d been born.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You made her faint earlier,” he said in that same funny voice he’d pulled out of nowhere before.
Was he telling her no?
The woman tipped her chin up even higher. “There’s hope for you yet, child. Fine, yes. She’ll be safe in my presence,” she almost seemed to concede.
But I was still too stuck on what the hell else had happened.
He was trying to care for me.
My heart… my little fucking heart gave a thump that both of them had to hear.
Alex set his hand on mine. I nodded before he rolled off the bed, giving me a long, long look as he walked out and closed the door behind him.
She held the cane with the maybe apple-sized emerald loosely and landed her bright purple gaze on me before saying abruptly, “This family grew too large in the last generation.”
“Ma’am?”
She set her free hand on top of the other holding the cane. “I had one brother, and he lacked any motivation to marry. We kept our families small to protect our identities. It might be my fault for allowing my daughter to have so many children, but I don’t appreciate the concept of blaming myself.”
I barely held in the cough that rose in my throat. Whatever she was, she was a predator. You didn’t tell a predator you were injured or sick, especially when I had no idea where the hell she was going with this.
“These children rarely trust, and I blame technology and the times that we live in.” She aimed that intense gaze at me that made it seem like stars had been born in her pupils in the span of a second.
My mouth went dry.
She was ancient and eternal. At least some part of her was. Maybe every part of her.
I could totally see why Agatha would have said she saw her life and death in the woman’s eyes.
My hands were starting to sweat.
“Humans are more complicated than they look. People aren’t just good or just bad. Nothing is as black and white as it seems. The boy, Alexander, is a perfect example. His heart isn’t as pure as his sister’s or his brother’s, but it’s a strong, ferocious heart that wants to protect those it sees as weaker. He reminds me of my father in that way.”
I still had no clue where she was going with this, and I didn’t have the balls to ask. She could rant all night about mathematical theories, and I would force myself to listen and pretend like I knew exactly what she was talking about.