Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(50)
When he answered, his voice was even, his words empty. “Oui, one moment.” Into the back room he went.
With his departure, my fury collapsed, leaving me confused and horrified. What just happened? I stared at Amelie, dumbfounded.
“Good lord, Evangeline!” Amelie exclaimed. “You’re wound tighter than a yo-yo. I thought you were going to kill him. What’s gotten into you? I mean, it’s cool and all but … a little excessive, don’t you think?”
I struggled to regulate my breathing. “I don’t know what happened,” I whispered, swallowing repeatedly. Checking the store, I saw that no one had noticed. Thank God! Thank Amelie! “Thank you … for erasing that from his memory,” My fingers raked my hair. I had almost driven a knife into that man—over a watch! Was I finally cracking?
“No problem. If you want, I can make him tap dance naked in the street after.” I caught Amelie’s devilish smile as the man returned with a small black metal box. I scrutinized his face as he unraveled the packaging. No sign of fear, no indication that he remembered I had just held him at knifepoint. What is wrong with me? He flipped two hinges open and my self-loathing disappeared instantly. Inside lay a large sterling silver pocket watch nestled in black satin. Around the outside perimeter were engraved roman numbers to identify the hour. In the center, under clear glass, were the gears of the timepiece. A heavy silver chain hung from a loop on the top.
“Wow,” I said, my internal turmoil temporarily forgotten. Who knew a pocket watch could be so beautiful? “It’s perfect.”
I looked up to ask the price at the same time that Amelie announced with a wide grin and a penetrating gaze, “Please wrap it up. We’ll take it at no cost.”
“Amelie!” I hissed when the man turned his back to begin wrapping it. “I can’t steal a gift for Caden!”
That earned an eye roll. “Oh, please! You were about to stab the man and now you’re worried about stealing from him? You’re so spastic lately …” She grinned impishly. “Besides, think of it as your payment for saving the world. You’ll have earned it.”
I groaned. Amelie always had a way of rationalizing things to her own advantage. But in this case, I wasn’t going to argue. I was already a delinquent when it came to morals. What was theft, added to conspiracy and attempted murder?
In under five minutes, we were walking out with wrapped gifts at no cost to us. I tucked the watch into an inside pocket in my jacket to keep it safe. “Where to next?”
“Evangeline …” Amelie’s voice drifted off as she looped arms with me. She pulled me across the street, paying no heed to the oncoming traffic, even when angry horns blared at us. “Do you think it’s awful of me to be so happy with Julian after watching one of my best friends die? I mean, shouldn’t I be curled up into an angry little ball and not out here, shopping for Christmas gifts and stuff?”
As we stepped onto the sidewalk, she slowed to a halt. A fractured replica of Amelie’s face turned to stare at me, one suffering from extreme internal turmoil. “Does all this make me a terrible friend?” Her voice turned soft and shaky.
I knew what she wanted. She wanted the validation that I so desperately sought for myself. That it was okay to long for Caden’s arms around me when Bishop was suffering, when Veronique was being tortured, when the world was about to end. That I shouldn’t feel guilty that I’ve found one shred of happiness in all of this and that I was willing to let it consume my thoughts every second of every day.
I felt my face warm in a gentle smile. “No, Amelie. It doesn’t make you a bad friend. It gives you a reason to live, to fight. It keeps you sane.” I reached out to squeeze her hand. Sanity. Something I’m quickly losing …
Her shoulders lifted and fell. “Good. I didn’t want you to think ill of me, Evie. I don’t want anyone to think I’m not suffering over Fiona’s death. I miss her.” Amelie’s lip quivered. “I miss her so much. Every day …” She swallowed as her gaze dropped to the cobblestone. “Sometimes, at night, while I watch Julian sleep, I swear I hear her voice down the halls. That laugh of hers …” She smiled, looking off in the distance, reminiscing. “It makes me want to go back to New York and tear every last one of those witches to pieces.” When she looked at me again, her eyes were glassy with emotion. “I’m just so thankful to have Julian. He’s made it so much easier to deal with losing her.”
A lump formed in my throat. “I know,” I forced out, along with a forged smile.
Grabbing my arm, she dragged me into a store with sharply dressed female mannequins posed in the window. “Julian’s amazing, Evie,” Amelie gushed, her mood lifting. “He’s just so … smart and sweet and … funny! Even with all the awful stuff going on, when I even think of Julian,” her hands closed in to nestle against her chest, “this warm bubble grows inside me. I didn’t think I could feel like this ever again!” Again and again, her ecstasy over Julian pounded on my heart like a concrete hammer, smashing it to a pulp. “He’s been the perfect gentleman. So old-fashioned …” Amelie explained as she pulled a black lacy outfit off a shelf, complete with green ribbons and things dangling from the bottom of it. “Oh, I like!”
I groaned inwardly as my fingers caressed a silk gown absently. Of course Julian’s been the perfect gentleman, Amelie. If you knew what he was hiding, you’d be using that lace to choke the life out of him …