This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(35)

For a minute I forgot what I was angry about. All I cared about were her big brown eyes and her toothy smile. She ran her fingertips up the side of my neck.

I shook myself out of my own thoughts. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah,” Marie said. “I think we do.”

I took her hand and pulled her down the front steps as Persephone brushed past us. She threw a pointed glance at Marie before disappearing inside.

I led Marie around the side of the house where the overgrown trellis groaned under the weight of thousands of tendrils of ivy. They reached out for me, and I let them curl around my arms and legs. Marie leaned in to kiss me, but I gently pressed my hands into her chest.

“I heard you talking to Persephone.”

Marie’s face twisted into a mask of shock. “When?”

“Just now. I was in the apothecary, and y’all were outside. She made it seem like something bad was gonna happen to us. What are you not telling me?”

Marie stepped closer. I had to focus on the center of her forehead as she spoke. Looking into her eyes or at the curve of her lips was gonna make me forget that I was extremely concerned about the secrets she was keeping from me.

“Listen,” she said softly. “Do you remember how I told you Circe and Selene kept to themselves? How secretive they were even when they knew Astraea had used a piece of the Heart to heal me?”

I nodded.

“It’s different now. Since Circe and Persephone have been back, they’ve been more open with me about certain things. They both seem like they’re coming to some kind of reckoning. The pottery shard was sitting in my collection for twenty years before I had time to try and return it. If Circe hadn’t been so closed off we might have found the last piece of the Heart sooner, but I guess she had her reasons. The point is, she knows that it was a mistake to close herself off and she doesn’t want it to happen again.”

“What does that have to do with you and me?” I asked. “I mean, I’m glad y’all are talking, but neither of you are talking to me about what y’all saw in the Grotto, what Dr. Kent and her sisters did to the strings. Persephone said you needed to tell me something, so what is it? And don’t tell me it’s nothing. I’m not stupid.”

Marie looked stunned. “I would never ever think that about you.”

“Okay, then be honest with me. Tell me what you and Persephone are so concerned about.” A knot grew in my throat. We had a lot of secrets between the two of us, but this couldn’t be one of them. Not when it might be about her safety.

“You heard the whole conversation?” Marie asked.

“Part of it.” I met her gaze, exactly the way I shouldn’t have. Heat rushed to my face.

Marie stepped close and gently pressed her forehead to mine. “I’m going to do everything in my power to help you get your mom back. I don’t care what it costs.”

“What it costs? I don’t like the way that sounds. Please just tell me what it is.”

“I don’t want to,” she said. She interlaced her fingers with mine. “I don’t want you to worry.”

“It’s way too late for that.”

She sighed, and her sweet breath in my face sent a warm rush through me. “Persephone is worried about things that no one has any control over,” she said. “You think I’m dramatic? I don’t have anything on her. The truth is no one has ever reunited all the pieces of the Heart. At least that’s what Circe is telling me now. So, we don’t know what will happen or how. Persephone is a pessimist. She wants me to run down every single thing that could possibly go wrong and I refuse to do it. She is overly paranoid.”

“She said we were going to die.”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Please. You really think I’d let any of this happen if we were all fated to die? Please give me a little more credit than that.”

I smiled at her and she let her gaze drift to my mouth.

“You think we actually have a chance?” I asked.

“I do,” she said. “I really do. But no matter what, I’d walk through whatever fire lies ahead for a chance to make you happy.”

She slipped her hands around my waist and pressed her lips against mine. The world around us melted away. Her body radiated warmth and I leaned toward her like a wilted plant to sunlight. I came alive under her touch. She smelled like roses and her lips tasted like cinnamon. I let my fingers trace along the bare skin of her neck as I breathed her in. The tangle of vines behind me shifted. Marie had her hands under my shirt, her fingers trailing over the small of my back. For all her strength, she was gentle with me—her lips soft, her touch softer.

I thought I’d been kissed before, but I realized in that moment that I never had. Not really. I pulled her closer, grabbing a handful of her shirt, feeling her frame soften against mine.

She leaned away from me, and I took the opportunity to catch my breath. My head swam; my senses were on ten. Beside me, sprigs of wisteria had intermingled with the common ivy and sprouted hundreds of pale lavender blooms along the entire length of the latticework.

Marie straightened her shirt and pushed her long braid behind her shoulder. She reached out and readjusted my glasses, which were sitting sideways on my face.

“C’mon,” she said, laughing softly. “I think we’re gonna go into town.”