I greet Landon with a curt, “We need to talk,” before he fully enters the House of Gemini. Elise falters at my tone, just two steps in front of her husband-to-be.
“Is everything okay?” she asks.
“It will be as soon as Landon clarifies something.”
A sheen of alarm lights her blue eyes. “I’ll head down to my quarters and begin packing.” Her attention swings back and forth between Landon and me. “He asked me to move into one of the spare bedrooms until the wedding.”
“You don’t have to pack,” he tells her. “We have servants to do it for you.”
“I don’t mind, and it’ll give the two of you time to talk.”
With a resigned nod, Landon brushes his lips across her cheek. “I’ll come find you soon.”
After Elise leaves us alone, Landon gestures for me to follow him into the main sitting area, where he lowers into a chair. “What’s going on?”
Too worked up to sit, I pace to the curved wall of windows, a scowl on my face as raindrops squiggle down the glass. The weather is as bipolar here as the personalities of the men in this tower.
“Sebastian told me it doesn’t end for me after the auction.” I turn around and face my brother, arms crossed. “Is that true?”
Taking a deep breath, he runs a hand down his weary face. “It’s true. What did he tell you?”
“He told me next to nothing! Just that this is only the beginning…whatever that means.”
Then he left because that’s what Sebastian does best after we share an intimate moment. I’m still fuming over his behavior, and it’s possible my rocky emotional state is bleeding into this conversation with Landon, but I can’t find the will to rein in my anger.
Not after the sleepless night I spent in bed, alternating between the memory of Sebastian’s sculpted body standing over me and his parting shot as he left my room.
My feet carry me to the bar set up on one side of the main living area, and though I’m not in the habit of drinking, I pour one now and take a long sip. The amber liquid burns a path down my throat—same as the scorching memory of my encounter with Sebastian.
“You shouldn’t be drinking.”
I whirl on my brother, alcohol splashing over the rim of the glass. “Don’t lecture me on what I should and shouldn’t be doing. I want the truth. All of it, Landon.” It’s been two weeks since I learned about my father via my mother’s journal—now locked away in Landon’s safe, where no one else will read her words and discover the truth.
But there’s more to be told. I’ve sensed it, and Sebastian confirmed it last night.
Displaying the type of patience required of parents, Landon gets up and carefully works the drink from my stubborn grip. “You’ll need a clear head when I tell you this.”
As he sets the glass on the bar, I let out a slow breath. All the fight seeps from my bones.
“Tell me what?” Now I’m terrified of learning the answer. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
His expression tightens with reluctance. “Maybe you should sit down.”
I shake my head. “Just tell me.”
“After Sebastian wins your hand in the auction—assuming everything goes as planned—he’ll have to share you.”
“What do you mean share me?” My voice goes up an octave. “Isn’t that what this year is for?”
Landon casts a glance at his feet. “Sebastian’s right. It doesn’t end with the auction. Each member of the Brotherhood will have you in his bed for one night during his zodiac month. It’s an…ongoing tradition.”
My head spins, tumbling end over end with the mental pictures his confession just projected in my mind. “You mean it’s a monthly tradition…every month, Landon?” Panicked disbelief strangles my throat. “For the rest of my life?”
The downcast nod of his head betrays his shame.
I pivot, fingers gripping the bar, and dry-heave into the sink. He places a hand on my back and rubs in comforting circles.
“I’m sorry, Novalee,” he says after I spew what little food I had in my stomach, since eating was impossible as I waited for him to return and give me answers.
“Sorry doesn’t help.” I turn, shredding him with the accusation in my eyes. “Why can’t this…this sick-and-wrong tradition be changed?”
“Some members of the Brotherhood have tried to affect change over the years, but the tradition is centuries old.” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “And…some of us believe the island is cursed.”
Laughter erupts from me—the bitter, disbelieving kind. “You can’t be serious.”
“What do you know about the history of Zodiac Island?”
“Only what Liam told me. He said Evangeline Castle and twelve explorers founded the island, got rich, then they kept her in a tower and…” My mouth gapes as realization dawns.
“They shared her, Novalee.”
“Will I be locked away too?”
“No. The Brotherhood has managed to change some things over the years, hence the queen’s monthly duty to the members instead of a free-for-all. The entrapment lies in that duty,” he finishes quietly, ashamedly.
“You don’t agree with any of this, do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“What about Sebastian?”
“He has more reason than anyone to despise the curse we all bear.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s his story to tell, Novalee. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
I mentally scoff, already knowing the likely outcome of that conversation. “Who issued this supposed curse?” I ask, filing away the subject of Sebastian…for now.
“Evangeline Castle. Some believe she was a witch, and this is her revenge for her wrongful imprisonment by the men in whom she placed her trust. She gave them the world, so to speak, and they repaid her by stealing her freedom.”
“But I have nothing to do with that. Why would she make women go through this, generation after generation?”
“Aside from the fact that you are a descendent of Evangeline Castle, the historical records we have from that time indicate she went mad. You’ve heard the saying misery loves company? She seethed with so much hatred she would have cursed the whole world if she were capable.”
“This is…a lot to take in.” My limbs shake with weakness, and I make my way to the nearest chair and collapse into it.
Landon crouches in front of me, an apology clear in the tense lines of his expression. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wasn’t sure if Liam told you, and the truth is I chickened out.”
I stare at the ocean through the glass, wishing it would sweep me away. “How could you bring me here?”
“It wasn’t my decision. My father…our father did what he thought was best for you.”
“Do you really believe that?” I meet his gaze, brows arched in challenge.
“I don’t have an answer, Novalee. Do I want you to endure this burden? Absolutely not.”
“Then why did you threaten me when I wanted to leave?”
“Because it’s safer for you here.”
“Safer? Explain how.”
“Your uncle isn’t a good man. I’m sure you already know this.”
“Did anyone stop to think I’d rather deal with one bad man than a dozen of them?”
“Not everyone in this tower is out to hurt you. You have allies here. You just don’t know them yet.”
“Is Sebastian an ally?”
“Reluctantly so.”
“Because he doesn’t like me.” The knowledge aches in my throat. “Why doesn’t he like me?”
“He wouldn’t act so hot-headed and infuriating if he didn’t care about you. When Sebastian stops caring, you’ll know it because you’ll cease to exist to him.”
“Then why does he treat me the way he does? His actions aren’t that of someone who cares.”
Lust might drive Sebastian Stone when it comes to me, but I have no doubt in my mind it doesn’t go beyond that. The realization sends a scorching needle through the spot in my heart where the lion settled in when I wasn’t paying attention.
Things with Liam were simpler.
Safer.
Muted in comparison to what I feel when I’m around Sebastian.
Because he sets me on fire with the touch of his fingers. Sets off my temper with his verbal sparring. And when his vulnerability peeks through during those rare times when I feel like I’m seeing him for the first time…
Really seeing him—the emotionally scarred boy battling demons of which I know nothing about…
That’s when he has the most power over me.
Landon takes my hand, and everything about his posture hints at his earnestness. “He cares, Novalee. Just give him some time.”
How ironic. Time is all I have. Nine months, to be exact. But will Sebastian be waiting at the end of the auction for me, or will someone else play to win?
Either way, it feels like a massive loss to me.