Embry told us he had some potential leads he wanted to look into, so Gabriel and I were alone for supper on a gorgeous island. I knew he would want to keep me locked up in a hotel room to be safe, but I had a plan.
“We can pick up burgers or a pizza on the way to a hotel,” he told me. He was clearly paying more attention to the people than the buildings because I hadn’t seen a single American food chain. Even restaurants were few and far between; all mom and pop shops from what I could tell.
“Or we can try to find an alternative to stealing the most valuable item in that museum,” I suggested.
“Do you have a suggestion where we should look?” he asked.
“All the guidebooks suggest that if you want to get to know a place, you ask the locals.”
“We’re trying to lie low and not let everyone on this island know that we’re travelers from America looking into Crescent Moon Bearers and a long-forgotten dynasty,” he argued.
“We stick out like a sore thumb. As soon as we got off here instead of the party island, we became gossip. If someone was going to know we’re here, they know.”
“Can you sense anyone?” he kept leaning in and speaking softly, which I knew was an attempt to prevent people from overhearing him, but every time his fingers accidentally brushed mine, I had to ignore the urge to hold them.
“This entire island is giving off some mega-vibes, but they seem peaceful, if that makes any sense.”
“Not really, but let me know if that changes,” he gave me the tiniest of smiles before we walked towards where the royal house used to be. The majority of it was destroyed along with most of the island, but there was a tiny part of it that still stood at the northernmost end. History books had led me to believe that kingdoms comprised a castle surrounded by their city, with the whole thing encompassed by impenetrable stone walls. According to movies, the only way in or out was some kind of drawbridge, because water always surrounded them.
This kingdom either didn’t have enemies, or they trusted the outer layer of tiny walls to keep their attackers out. Or at least slow them down when they hopped over it.
“Anything?” Gabriel asked when I sat on the wall that barely reached my waist and put my hands on its stones.
“Nope,” I shrugged, looking around for talismans or discarded jewels on the ground, knowing neither was likely.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he said of the waves crashing on the beach.
“It must have been paradise once upon a time,” I ventured.
“I always knew you came from a line of strong, capable women.”
“You never thought it went this far,” I called him on it.
“No, but I am not at all surprised to find that your ancestors ran a matriarchal kingdom that saw centuries of nothing but peace and prosperity.”
“It’s a lot for anyone to live up to,” I thought of Kiara’s mother, Ilana, and wondered if it was more than love that made her want to leave the island.
“This is where you come from, Lucy. This light and strength and greatness; that’s who you are.”
I gave him a smile instead of answering. I knew what he meant, and I definitely came from some impressive women, but you couldn’t just forget about the other contributions.
The wind blew my hair into my face, so I brought my hand up to tuck it behind my ear. When I brought my hand back to the stone wall, I accidentally put it on Gabriel’s hand instead. I was going to take it away and apologize, but he didn’t move his hand away. He said nothing, so I left my hand on his and for a moment, we just sat there, staring out at the ocean, almost hand in hand.
The sun was setting, so we walked back towards civilization, choosing a pizza place for our dinner, but it was nothing like the delivery pizza he’d originally suggested. The crust was paper thin, covered in olive oil, spinach, mushrooms and tomato. I added cheese to mine and Gabriel had sun-dried tomatoes on his.
“Interesting,” I commented, biting into my heavenly slice.
“Embry’s mother used to preserve tomatoes by leaving them out in the sun, but every time she did it, squirrels took at least a quarter of them,” he was the face of innocence.
“She knew it was you.”
“You never even met her,” he argued, more because he wanted to hear my argument than because he thought I was wrong.
“She would have put something on top to prevent it, or added spices to them ahead of laying them out. She let it happen because she knew it was you. Mrs. Boyd used to smile at Mr. Boyd and say the birds came through the window and ate the cookies she had on the counter, but she knew he was the one who took them.”
“Mrs. Dante was a very honest woman,” he defended her with a smile.
“Sometimes you tell yourself lies to make the people you love happy,” I shrugged.
“Or keep things from them,” he tried.
“Lie to them, you mean?” I knew we were talking about us now. “I understand lying to people when the truth is something that will hurt them, but not when it’s vital information that determines whether they live or die and who they can trust and…” I cut myself off, but put my hand out so he wouldn’t respond yet, “It hurt me that you didn’t feel you could trust me with the truth. That even after everything, you still see me as a child who can’t deal with the hard things, but I am not. I passed middle-age years ago,” I tried to make it less serious with a joke about my impending doom.
“We will fix that,” he told me like there was no other option, but I knew it was far from being the case. The lie was more for him than to me, so I let it slide. “And I know you’re not a child, Lucy. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could tell you to stay back and hide, and that you would listen and be safe. Not that I don’t trust you with the truth, it’s that I want to protect you from it. To save you from whatever pain or sadness that I can. Not because I think you’re too young to handle it, but because you lie to make the people you love happy,” he went back to eating his slice of pizza like that wasn’t a heated declaration that gave me butterflies. I don’t think Gabriel had told me he loved me before. Ever.
“I thought your job was to keep me safe, not happy,” I don’t know why I felt the need to prod instead of taking the win, but I had a bad feeling that Henry would catch up with us soon, and I didn’t want to have regrets when we failed.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I’m here to protect you. Rather your heart. Which I think means more than not letting someone cut it out, or stopping you from running a dagger through it.”
“I’m not planning on that,” I argued, going back to my pizza.
“No, but you’re willing to. If we get to a point where you don’t think we’ll win, you’re prepared to sacrifice yourself.”
“Better than sacrificing someone else for my curse.”
“Who are you to tell us who we’re allowed to give our lives up for?”
“Who are you to tell me?” I countered.
“I come back,” he pointed out.
“How are the pizzas?” the man who ran the kitchen chose that moment to come out and talk to us.
“Delicious,” I gave him a smile, but Gabriel was still looking pointedly at me.
“How long are you in town for?”
“We leave in the morning,” I shared.
“Short visit,” he shook his head, pressing his lips together like he found this to be a shame.
“It’s a quick trip, but I wanted to find out more about Talina and Zeke,” I gave him an opening.
“You saw the museum?” he asked.
“We did,” I agreed.
“Then you know the official stuff.”
“Is there unofficial stuff?” I asked, leaning forward in my chair, causing him to make a big-bellied chuckle.
“I was born here, then went to school in London. Instead of retiring, I came back here and opened a pizza parlor because this is the only place in the world where I wouldn’t lock my doors, would lend a stranger my car and have never felt unsafe,” he shared.
“The museum mentioned a low crime rate,” I agreed, feeling guilty about our plans.
“It’s not just low, it’s nonexistent. I don’t know if it’s the island or the lifestyle, but we honor Talina and Xiomara and all the ones who turned us into this instead of that,” he pointed across to the ocean, toward Europe.
“I need to live here to know the unofficial stuff,” I understood.
“Tonight might be a good start,” he nodded to the sky, where a firework had just gone off.
“What’s tonight?” Gabriel asked.
“It’s Luna Creciente,” he shared.
“The Crescent Moon?” Gabriel translated, although I would have guessed it even if I didn’t speak Spanish.
“Not for a few days, but tonight’s the opening of the festival. There’ll be fireworks and dancing… it lasts all week, if you can stay a little longer.”
“No, we really need to leave, but thank you.”
We settled our bill and headed off to the hotel to meet Embry. Islanders crowded the streets for the festival, so Gabriel took my hand and brought me through a quieter alley instead.
“I think it’s the island,” I suggested. “I mean, not to take away from my ancestors, but the energy I’m getting from it is like… it feels very wholesome,” I tried to explain it. I don’t know if it was the magic or my ancestors I was feeling.
“I was going to say hopeful,” he agreed instead of telling me I was crazy. “You’re enjoying it, but it terrifies me.”
“Being hopeful?” I asked, very aware that he hadn’t let go of my hand yet. Recent events had me uncomfortable in crowds and in dark alleys, so I appreciated it for more reasons than one.
“Hope can be dangerous,” he pointed out. “I feel like I can do things I would normally stop myself from doing.”
“Things you would regret?” I asked.
“No, but I probably should,” he looked over at me, his black eyes piercing in the moonlight, making me catch my breath.
“You think everyone on the island gets along because they all feel buzzed?” I had never been drunk, so I didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like, but I was pretty sure this wasn’t it.
“No, it’s not like being drunk. Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and prevents you from thinking things through. I can see all the consequences my actions could have, all the implications… but they seem worth it. Like a weird optimism that has me believing that good things can happen, and I deserve them. It’s very strange.”
“What actions?” I asked. He was looking at me in a way that told me I knew what he was referring too, but he was sharing so much that I couldn’t believe he would be that open about something we’d only ever mentioned in subtext before.
“I can’t tell you that, Luce,” he said, but his eyes told me everything.
“You can tell me anything, remember?”
“I’m supposed to protect your heart,” he argued.
We weren’t walking anymore. We were both standing in the alley, looking straight into each other’s eyes, lit only by the moon. My heart was pounding in a way that made me want to scream, or to reach out and kiss him, but the only thing worse than not acting on these feelings would be if I did something and lost him for it.
“Sometimes keeping things from the people you love doesn’t make them happy,” I warned, biting on my bottom lip, hyperaware of how he was now holding both of my hands, and how he kept looking down at my lips.
I could see the battle going on in his mind, his head against his heart. I was rooting for his heart with every fiber of my being, trying to act normal while I was screaming inside.
“It’s funny, I never realized I was getting over her, never felt my feelings dim or the pain grow smaller, but one day, I just saw you walking towards me and I knew.”
“You knew what?” I asked, feeling nervous, even though this was Gabriel, and I had dreamed of this moment so many times over the summer.
“That I loved you,” he admitted. He said it simply, not like he expected anything in return, but I knew he didn’t mean it like I loved Sam or Embry. He meant the way he had loved Annabelle. “I was broken long before you smiled at me on your eighteenth birthday and took my breath away. For the first time in what felt like forever, my heart came alive and I wanted those things I thought I would never get to have. But I knew that I shouldn’t, that you deserved better. That’s why I stayed away, hoping the feelings would disappear, but as soon as you crawled out of the bathroom window and barreled into me, it all came back. I tried to be distant, to stay in the woods at the plantation so I wouldn’t betray myself and lose you, but… I love you.” Suddenly, before I realized what was happening, Gabriel leaned in, his hand pulling my face closer to his. Our lips were inches away when he paused, giving me the chance to back away if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I moved closer just as he did, so our lips touched. I felt the tingling all the way down to my toes. It was like I didn’t know I was drowning until he pulled me up and I could breathe again.
A new string of fireworks surprised me with their loud bangs, closer to us than they had been earlier, but as soon as Gabriel made sure it wasn’t a danger to us, he laughed at my reaction. It was a childish laugh, full of innocence that made me smile before leaning in and kissing him back. I half-expected him to push me away, like every other time I got close, but he caressed my cheek and looked at me like he never wanted me to go.
Embry had already rented the rooms for us; two with an adjoining door. Gabriel didn’t let go of my hand the entire walk there, which included lots of detours, sparks and fireworks. When we got to the room, he stopped and pulled me close, kissing me one last time before knocking so Embry could let us in. It felt like I lost a part of me when he let go of my hand, but later, when we brushed our teeth side by side, he gave me a smile, the kind where as hard as you try, you can’t stop smiling. I could tell this wasn’t a one-time thing. It was the start of something wonderful.