From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(105)
Dita crossed his mind, as she so often did, and he wondered where she was, what she was doing, how she felt, and when he would see her again. Because he wanted to see her again, wanted to reassure her, to reassure himself that she was all right, to make her all right if she wasn’t.
The game had taken a toll on all of them, each round a domino that fell into the next, a chain reaction that had the fabric of Olympus altered, their lives turned around and upside down. But through the pain, through the hurt, things were changing.
He saw her in the fire, saw her freedom, saw her strength—strength she didn’t even realize she had. For so long, he had wished for her happiness, and he could see her finally realizing that what she’d mistaken for happiness was false. He could see in her eyes that she wanted to know something real.
She was changed, and her change brought him hope.
Heff pushed off the table and to the mold, flipping it over to drop the gold bar into his hand. With his tongs, he nestled it in the coals until it was hot and soft, and when it was ready, he laid it on his anvil and reached for his hammer.
The metal flattened, each stroke of his hammer sure, the pressure and movement needed to shape it second nature, muscle memory, steady and without error. When it cooled, he rested it back in the coals to heat it again, repeating the movement until the gold was flat.
He moved the small strip of gold to his vise, slipped the end in, and tightened it. He rested a rod the size of Daphne’s fourth finger, left hand, next to the gold and hammered the loose end to bend it until the circle of the ring was as close to complete as it could get, trimming the excess metal off with a delicate saw.
Apollo had commissioned the ring, to be inscribed in Greek—My soul, my life I give to thee.
Apollo would ask for Daphne’s hand, and she would say yes. Their union would be a celebration where they could all find joy, a date that would move them all forward, beyond the pain of the past, and Heff found himself humbled and honored to be a part of their bond, to forge the ring to bind their love. The ring that would join them after so much suffering.
He took the ring, now almost complete, to the fire until it was pliable. And then he hammered it to close the gap, the ends pressed together, melting into each other. As he watched it cool, watched it fuse together to close the circle, to make a whole, he thought of his wife who wasn’t his wife, whom he had loved for eternity. Who had hated him at first, hot and angry as the molten gold. Who had loved him when she cooled.
But he could never close that gap between them, and she stayed just far enough away that he couldn’t reach her, the space between them so small but impossible to breach.
As he filed down the seam, it disappeared as if it were never there, as if the circle were just as it had been for eternity. It was the union, the creation of a whole from what had once been two, separate points, a circular path that went on forever. It would be Apollo and Daphne’s future, and hope sparked in his heart when he thought of Aphrodite, wondering if his chance was finally near, if he could be her forever and if she could be his.
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Love is somewhere near the bottom of Lily Thomas’ list of life goals,
right next to competitive eating and underwater cave diving.
She’s spent six years pirouetting and pliéing her way up the ranks of the New York Ballet with her eye on the prize and love in the back seat. But now that Blane Baker — Lily’s long time crush — is finally single, she’ll throw her rules out the window without thinking twice.
Reality with Blane isn’t as epic as the fantasy she imagined, and the truth sends her spinning straight into the arms of the man she never knew she’d always wanted.
West Williams has been friends with Lily since the day she moved into their building and he saved her armoire from a swift, sudden death by staircase. Their friendship has always been easy, the boundaries clearly defined. With neither of them willing to risk their relationship, they’ve drifted happily through the years as companions, never considering more.
That is, until they do. And that realization changes everything.
Acknowledgments
OBVIOUSLY, THE FIRST PERSON to thank is Jeff Brillhart (rhymes with Heff <—not an accident). Honey, I’m thankful every day that you haven’t run away, screaming. I have been more psycho and impossible through this book than I have ever been in our near thirteen years of marriage, so thanks a mil. Srsly.
Lori Riggs, goddamn it. My life twin, I love you. I couldn’t have written this book without your advice, even when I wanted to murder you for being an ass and never sugarcoating things. Thanks for holding my hair back while I wrote this novel. I owe you so many KPop gifs, it’s out of control.
Jenn Stevens, you sick, twisted woman. I don’t know how I would have ever produced the crime aspect of this story without you. I can’t even count on both hands and bare feet how many times The Wall saved me. I love you forever. Love, your neurotic bouncy ball.
Elyse Schramm, thank you ten million. Even though we basically never agree about anything, you’re oddly one of my favorite people ever in the whole world. Your love and support mean more to me than you’ll ever really know. Also, quit stalking my husband.
Orry Benavides, you were a huge part of the conception of this book, and I can’t tell you how much you helped me through the major hurdles I faced while dealing in the world of crime and serial killers. What the hell was I thinking? The world will never know. Thanks, bud.